As governor of Minnesota, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has helped usher in a progressive agenda that benefits all working Minnesota families and a style of governance that rejects the right-wing lie that pro-immigrant policies come at the detriment of U.S.-born Americans. As a member of Congress from a rural, red-leaning congressional district, Walz was always a stalwart defender of immigrants and never tempered his criticism of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies. The former football coach knew how to stay on offense.
“Instead, the Minnesota governor rightly argued that many progressive ideas, such as offering free meals to all students, are good and practical,” The Washington Post reported. “As Walz puts it, ‘You don’t win elections to bank political capital — you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.’”
A VOCAL SUPPORTER OF DREAMERS AND NEW AMERICANS
Governor Walz has been a vocal supporter of the more than 5,000 DACA recipients who call Minnesota home and contribute more than $27 million in state taxes and $50 million in federal taxes every single year. During his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Walz opposed the Trump administration’s effort to end the DACA program, stating that Dreamers “are Americans” and that “this is their home.” Walz urged then-Speaker Paul Ryan to act on permanent relief for Dreamers and their families (which he refused to do).
“This moment requires them to put their country and human decency over politics,” Governor Walz said, “and I stand ready to work with them on this issue, as well as comprehensive immigration reform.” Walz said that “deporting Dreamers, who contribute much to our society, harms our economy and our moral fabric.”
Geared by the state’s Democratic trifecta, Walz also signed a bill opening driver’s licenses to eligible residents regardless of immigration status. 2023’s Driver’s Licenses for All, which reversed a decades-old ban on undocumented residents being allowed to drive legally, was supported by legislators, community members, faith and labor leaders, law enforcement, and immigrant advocates due to its wide-reaching benefits, including helping keep families together (immigrants have been deported after being pulled over for something as minor as a broken taillight), boosting the state’s economy through license fees and greater accessibility to workplaces, and making roads safer for all.
“Ensuring drivers in our state are licensed and carry insurance makes the roads safer for all Minnesotans,” Walz said. “As a longtime supporter of this bill, I am proud to finally sign it into law, making our roads safer and moving us toward our goal of making Minnesota the best state to raise a family for everyone.” Walz opposed the Trump administration’s family separation policy, opposed its racist and wasteful border wall, and has supported the welcoming of new refugees in the state, who make significant contributions to the state’s economy. “In Minnesota, refugees contributed $227.2 million in state and local tax revenue in 2015,” the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota said.
WALZ’S BALANCED APPROACH ON IMMIGRATION VERSUS GOP DEMONIZATION AND CHAOS
The vast majority of decent Americans reject ugly and cruel policies like family separation and instead favor a balanced approach on immigration that maintains an orderly border and delivers a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, farmworkers, and other long-settled immigrants and their families, a contrast that Walz highlighted during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in August.
During the appearance, Walz urged the modernization of our outdated immigration system and mocked Trump’s continued calls to take us back to the 13th century and build a massively useless and massively expensive border wall.
“Our border can work better,” Walz said. “There’s no reason someone seeking asylum … shouldn’t have to wait seven years to have that adjudicated … He [Trump] talks about this wall, I always say, let me know how high it is. If it is twenty five feet, then I’ll invest in a thirty foot ladder factory. That’s not how you stop this. You stop this using electronics, you stop it using more border control agents, and you stop it by having a legal system that allows for that tradition of allowing folks to come here just like my relatives did to come here, be able to work and establish the American dream. He’s not interested in that. He wants to demonize.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he wants to invest in a "ladder factory" to help illegal immigrants climb Trump's border wall, says we won't have Thanksgiving dinner anymore without illegal immigrant workers.
Recent polling shows a majority of Americans support building a border… pic.twitter.com/9B5b7Qa44Z
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) August 1, 2024
Following Rep. Tom Suozzi’s win in the New York special election earlier this year, America’s Voice stated the need for Democrats to articulate a plan that couples an orderly border with strong support for broader reforms, especially in light of Republicans openly asserting and promising unsparing mass roundups, mass detentions, and mass deportations, torpedoing their own border legislation, and continuing to stoke xenophobic fear and spread conspiracies and disinformation.
While the anti-immigrant right may be loud, the majority of the public, including battleground states, maintains strong support for balanced solutions. Walz stands to be a strong partner on this issue.
AS TEXAS AND FLORIDA PUT UP ‘KEEP OUT’ SIGNS, MINNESOTA WELCOMES
“From defending Dreamers as a congressman in a red-leaning House district to delivering on driver’s licenses for immigrants while Governor as part of his agenda of ‘making Minnesota the best state to raise a family for everyone,’” America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas said in reaction to Walz’s selection as vice president. Just compare Walz’s record of welcoming to the GOP governors who are obsessed with implementing anti-immigrant policy, frequently at great fiscal costs to their states.
In Texas, where residents’ electric bills have gotten only more expensive and volatile, Greg Abbott has wasted billions in state funds on ineffective, wildly inhumane, and wildly expensive border operations. Exactly how much? More than $4.5 billion as of 2023, with Abbott’s cruel and likely illegal Operation Lone Star scheme burning through $2.5 million dollars a week. In Florida, Ron DeSantis’ S.B. 1718 – passed largely as part of an effort to boost his failed presidential campaign – has driven frightened immigrant workers critical to the state’s industries out of their workplaces. The bill’s own GOP supporters in the state legislature would eventually admit that workers were “starting to move to Georgia and other states.” The state was already facing critical worker shortages in industries such as agriculture, hospitality, and construction. DeSantis’ crackdown now means these shortages “may take years to close,” according to economists.
DeSantis’ dangerous and self-defeating policies and rhetoric continue to harm Florida and the nation despite his campaign’s catastrophic collapse in January. We can’t forget that one of DeSantis’ main contributions to the national stage included normalizing deadly violence at the southern border as part of his relentless effort to define himself as an anti-immigrant hardliner for GOP primary audiences. Similarly, Abbott has attracted Proud Boys, neo-Nazis, and an assortment of right-wing bigots through his promotion of white nationalist and antisemitic “invasion” conspiracy theory.
A FORWARD-LOOKING VISION FOR AMERICA
In a 2021 statement released following the evacuation of Afghanistan, Walz pointed to Minnesota’s “strong tradition of welcoming refugees” and told the Biden administration that the state was once again standing by to help displaced people begin new lives in America.
“Minnesotans believe in treating all people with respect and dignity, and we have a strong tradition of welcoming those who seek refuge and supporting them to rebuild their lives and become part of our communities,” Walz wrote. “Minnesota is eager to uphold that tradition by welcoming families and children and providing the stable foundation they need to rebuild their lives, achieve their highest potential, and contribute to our state.”
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