Illegal Border Crossings Today:

Updated: Kamala Harris Taps Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her VP Running Mate

Harris and Walz Migrants

FAIR Take | August 2024

Last week, 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. Most recently, Walz strongly supported the Senate “border security” bill negotiated by impeached Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  Under that bill, up to 5,000 encounters a day is acceptable—beyond crisis levels. The bill also does nothing to end the open-borders policies encouraging illegal immigration such as mass catch-and-release, asylum abuse, or categorical parole programs. Instead, it codifies a process to automatically release anyone claiming asylum and allows illegal parole programs and the CBP One App scheme to continue unabated.

Walz has also opposed important enforcement measures, and in particular, the construction of the border wall. Just last month, Walz said in a CNN 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. While running for governor in 2018, Walz also marched in a large protest against the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. As part of that protest, Walz marched alongside “Abolish ICE” demonstrators, separately saying that he supports “majorly reforming” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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 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 enacted in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack. Notably, seven of the 19 attackers on that day had valid Virginia’s driver’s licenses or identification cards enabling them to board airlines.

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.  The letter stated, “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.”

Whether or not Walz supports this particular piece of legislation (reports are unclear), he supports making Minnesota a sanctuary state. In a statement he provided the local CBS affiliate, WCCO, Walz stated:

My position on Minnesota becoming a sanctuary state boils down to who has the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws. Here’s what I believe: Congress has given federal agencies the authority to enforce immigration laws in Minnesota, and I support their doing so. Congress has not given local law enforcement that same authority. The role of law enforcement is to enforce state and local laws, not federal immigration laws, and I strongly believe that they should not do so.

All Minnesotans are safer when the limited resources of local law enforcement are focused on local crimes, and when everyone feels safe to cooperate fully with the police. For example, if your neighbor witnesses someone breaking into your home, you are safer when your neighbor knows their immigration status is not at risk if they call the police.

Governor Walz has also supported giving taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens. In 2023, Walz signed into law a bill that allows illegal aliens access free tuition programs for Minnesota public colleges. This legislation follows a 2013 law permitting illegal aliens access to in-state tuition. With at least 140,000 illegal aliens currently in the state, the new law is estimated to cost state taxpayers approximately $877.5 million each year, or $394 annually for each Minnesota household.

In 2023, Governor Walz signed into law legislation that allows illegal aliens to enroll in MinnesotaCare, a health insurance program for low-income residents, beginning in 2025.  The new law is expected to cost Minnesota taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year. Despite these massive expenses forced on Minnesota taxpayers, Walz argued in 2018 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.”

House of Representatives

In Congress, Walz similarly amassed a record of supporting open-borders policies. Some of the bills that Walz cosponsored include:

  • 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;
  • H.R. 5072, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, which would direct the Department of Homeland Security to provide permanent resident status to Liberian nationals in the country beginning in November 2014;
  • H.R. 4384, an Act to Sustain the Protection of Immigrant Residents Earned (ASPIRE) through TPS Act, which would provide illegal aliens who: (1) have been present in the country for five years, and (2) who have been granted or were eligible for deferred enforced departure (DED) or TPS with a six-year, renewable protected status;
  • H.R. 4253, the American Promise Act, which directs Homeland Security to provide illegal aliens granted DED or TPS lawful permanent residency; and
  • H.R. 3440, the Dream Act, which would require DHS to cancel removal for, and grant permanent resident status to, aliens who illegally entered the country before the age of 18.

Walz was also an original cosponsor on H.R. 2940, which would have made it easier to waive grounds of inadmissibility related to terrorism.  Introduced in June 2007, less than six years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the bill would have allowed the DHS Secretary or Department of State Secretary with discretion to waive multiple grounds of inadmissibility. Those grounds included: (1) having engaged in terrorist activity; (2) being engaged in or likely to engage in terrorist activity after entry; (3) having incited terrorist activity; (4) serving as a representative of a terrorist organization; and (5) being a member of a terrorist organization. In 2017, Walz was likewise an original cosponsor on 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 countries with ties to terrorism from entering the country.

As FAIR’s voting reports detail, Walz has also repeatedly opposed sensible legislation to secure the border and has supported open-borders policies.  Some key policy areas where Walz opposed FAIR’s position include:

  • Consistently opposing the 287(g) program, which authorizes state and local law enforcement to partner with federal immigration authorities, voting against funding the program in 2011 and 2013, and against prohibiting funds from being used to terminate 287(g) agreements in 2012;
  • Opposing efforts to defund sanctuary cities with votes in 2007, 2014, 2015, and again in 2015; and
  • Supporting the unlawful DACA program and broader amnesty legislation, voting in favor of such bills in 2010, 2014, 2015, again in 2015.

Walz also voted in favor of a measure providing illegal aliens with housing assistance and against an amendment prohibiting the use of funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release or provide alternative forms of detention for illegal aliens who committed a crime requiring their incarceration.

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.