Earlier on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election. Tim Walz is currently serving his second term as the governor of Minnesota. Prior to being Governor, Walz served as a Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007-2019, representing Minnesota’s first district.
Before his political career, Tim Walz attended Chadron State College in Nebraska where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1989. In 2001, Walz went on to earn a Master of Science in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato, which is located in southeastern Minnesota. He worked as a high school teacher and served in the Army National Guard.
As a politician, Walz has supported a series of open-borders policies. Just last week, Walz said in an interview that he would invest in a ladder factory to get around any border wall construction in a potential second Trump Administration. At the very start of his time as governor, Walz likewise voiced strong disapproval of the Trump Administration’s effort to reprogram Department of Defense (DOD) funding for border wall construction in 2020.
Governor of Minnesota
Since becoming governor in 2019, Walz has supported a series of radical immigration policies, such as granting amnesty to illegal aliens, providing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, making Minnesota a sanctuary state, and providing taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens.
As governor, Walz sent a letter to congressional leaders in 2021 calling on them to pass amnesty legislation for “essential workers, Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and their families.” In the letter, Walz referred to amnesty as “the right thing to do” for the country.
In March 2023, Walz also signed a bill authorizing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses. Walz said that the new law “[ensures] drivers in our state are licensed and carry insurance makes the roads safer for all Minnesotans…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.” The measure reversed two decades of state law.
Beyond helping illegal aliens get driver’s licenses, Governor Walz has supported making it easier for illegal aliens to remain illegally in his state. Earlier this year, Governor Walz’s Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) introduced the North Star Act, which would make Minnesota a sanctuary state. The bill would prevent local and state authorities from cooperating with federal immigration authorities to enforce our immigration laws. Many Republicans, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) signed a public letter voicing their opposition to the measure. In part, the letter stated that, “The ‘Sanctuary City/State’ experiment has proven to be an utter failure. These states and municipalities have become overrun with illegal immigrants and have used public schools, recreation centers, and parks to shelter these individuals…We would like to remind you of the terrorist recently caught in Minneapolis who entered our country illegally through the southern border. Minnesotans do not need more crime and unknown terrorists in their towns and cities…This experiment is also costly and dangerous; ‘Sanctuary’ status costs taxpayers billions of dollars. Minnesota is already one of the highest-taxed states in the nation.” Walz reportedly supports the measure.
Governor Walz has also supported giving taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens. In 2023, Governor Walz signed into law a bill that allows illegal aliens access to free tuition programs for Minnesota public colleges—this latest effort builds on a 2013 law permitting illegal aliens access to in-state tuition. According to FAIR’s estimates, there are at least 140,000 illegal aliens currently in the state, which is estimated to cost state taxpayers approximately $877.5 million each year, or $394 for each Minnesota household every year. In his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, Walz argued that, “This myth—and to be very honest it is meant to discredit immigrants—that they are using public services and not paying back is absolutely false.” In 2023, Governor Walz signed into law legislation that allows illegal aliens to enroll in Minnesota’s Medicaid program, called MinnesotaCare, beginning in 2025. The new law is expected to cost Minnesota taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year.
House of Representatives
In Congress, Walz similarly amassed a record of supporting open-borders policies and legislation. As FAIR’s voting reports detail, Walz has repeatedly opposed sensible legislation to secure the border and has supported open-borders policies.
Just some of the measures that Walz has supported as an original cosponsor include:
- H.R. 2940, which would make it easier for the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to waive grounds of inadmissibility related to terrorism;
- H.R. 2377, the Encourage New Legalized Immigrants to Start Training Act (ENLIST) Act, which allows for illegal aliens who were present in the country before 2011 and entered the country before the age of 15 to enlist in the military;
- H.R. 392, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which would remove the per-country caps for employment visas and flood the country with even more foreign labor; and
- H.R. 724, the Statue of Liberty Values (SOLVE) Act, which would have rolled back President Trump’s 2017 executive order aimed at blocking foreign nationals from terrorism hotspots from entering the country.
Conclusion
In picking Governor Walz as her running mate, Kamala Harris is reinforcing her support of open-borders immigration policies. As a politician and lawmaker, Walz has been an advocate for an open-borders and an anti-enforcement agenda that has racked up costs for Minnesotans. He has supported broad amnesty programs, taxpayer-funded benefits and sanctuary policies that hurt public safety. On a larger scale, Walz has consistently defended the Biden-Harris Administration’s disastrous record on illegal immigration, and has been an outspoken critic of the border wall.
WE NEED TO WEED OUR PARTY OF RINOS TO FUTHER OUR PARTIES AGENDA!!!!!! OUR PARTY= PATRIOTS WHO WANT GOOD FOR OUR NATION!!!!!! I’M SICK OF THE POLITICS. SAVE OUR COUNTRY REPUBLICANS!!!