Minnesota gubernatorial candidates Tim Walz and Jeff Johnson have very different visions on immigration policy for the state, but poll after poll shows that Minnesotans tend to agree with the Republican on the issue.
Walz, on the one hand, supports sanctuary-state policies and wants to limit local authorities from cooperating with federal agencies, such as ICE. Johnson, however, supports a polar opposite platform and plans to indefinitely suspend the state’s participation in the Refugee Resettlement Program.
“Immigration, we couldn’t differ more. I believe we should cooperate with the federal government to enforce our immigration laws,” Johnson previously said.
He has also has criticized Walz in previous debates for supporting immigration policies that are considered extreme even in the Democratic Party, and polls are showing that Minnesotans tend to agree with those criticisms.
A recent poll from the Center of the American Experiment, for instance, found that 60 percent of likely Minnesota voters “totally oppose” making Minnesota a sanctuary state, while just 36 percent “totally support” the idea.
A Sept. 14 poll conducted by KSTP and SurveyUSA found similar numbers, with 59 percent of Minnesotans disagreeing with Walz’s sanctuary-state proposal.
On the issue of the state’s participation in the federal government’s Refugee Resettlement program, an August Suffolk University poll found that 44 percent of Minnesotans think their state accepts “too many” refugees, compared to 38 percent who think the number of refugees is “just the right amount,” and 10 percent who think it’s “not enough.”
According to Johnson’s campaign website, he will “work with the state legislature to ban sanctuary cities in Minnesota,” and request that President Donald Trump end Minnesota’s participation in the Refugee Resettlement Program.
“As governor, I will meet with President Trump and Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions to explain this situation in detail and inform them that our participation in the program will end until we tell them otherwise,” his website states.
Walz’s campaign website does not lay out the candidate’s immigration agenda. In the latest poll, Walz had a nine-point lead over Johnson.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
