Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate, but what are his views on immigration? As a 10-year veteran of congress, and current governor of Minnesota, he has been widely regarded as one of the most bipartisan members of government? The election so far has been full of surprises and upsets with no way of anticipating the next twist. So, we’ll look at Walz’s record and try untangling his views on immigration and its regulation in the U.S.
We should start with some general information on the state of Minnesota. The state has 5.7 million residents, with about 500,000 of those being foreign born residents. Mr. Walz has long made immigration an integral part of his platform, as he said to the Sahan Journal when he was running his reelection campaign for governor, “Walk down the streets of Worthington, Willmar, Mankato, or Saint Paul, and you will see that it’s the fabric of our life.” According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants in Minnesota spend $5.4 billion in taxes annually, make up 12.5 percent of the STEM workforce, and made almost $1B in business income from immigrant founded businesses. There is simply no denying the importance of immigrants to the state, its workforce, and economy.
In 2023, Walz expanded driver’s license privileges to all residents in Minnesota regardless of immigration status. The same bill gave driver’s license access to an estimated 81,000 undocumented immigrants living in the state with the goal of more drivers being ensured and properly licensed, increasing general safety on roads. Many of his Republican opponents have, and continue to, try and use this in an attempt to market Walz as a dangerous, America-hating radical, but 18 states and Washington D.C. have similar laws.
Many have claimed that since Walz was elected governor of Minnesota that he’s been trying to “turn Minnesota into California”, as if that’s an insult to want to be more like the 5th largest economy in the world. A place famous for being a melting pot of different communities, cultures, and socio-economic backgrounds. These claims are marked by the almost entirely false assertions that Walz is trying to make Minnesota a “sanctuary state”, but the reality is that only 2 counties are “sanctuary communities”. Minnesota does not have any legislation to protect undocumented immigrants who commit violent or heinous crimes from deportation, they do however have legislation to protect the undocumented from being deported for minor traffic offenses.
In a look to the other side of the aisle, J.D. Vance, former president Trump’s pick for VP, has been enthusiastically supportive of Trump’s mass deportation policy, without any regard for how much harm such a government program could, and would, wreak. While on the other hand, Walz voted on a bill while in congress to keep children with their parents in reaction to former president Trump’s inhumane policy of separating children from their parents.
While, admittedly, the VP historically has minimal power, the choice of such a staunch supporter of immigrants and their families is no mistake on the part of Harris. The choice of Walz sends a clear signal to immigrant families across the U.S. that she will stand with them against Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant onslaught. Harris has long been a proud defender of immigrant families, considering she herself came from a family who immigrated to the very nation she may soon be leading.