In 2019, Gov. Tim Walz praised the impact of mass immigration on Worthington, a small Minnesota town with fewer than 14,000 residents, describing the influx of migrant children as “beautiful diversity.” Worthington’s schools now cater to students speaking over 50 languages, a situation Walz sees as both a cultural and economic asset. However, this surge, largely driven by the federal government’s Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program and the JBS Pork slaughterhouse attracting new arrivals, forced local taxpayers to significantly raise taxes to fund school expansion.

Walz, now Kamala Harris’s running mate, defended the changes during a 2022 gubernatorial debate, stating that Minnesota is a state that values immigration. He argued that the diversity brought by mass immigration, with storefronts offering various cultural foods and services, is essential for the state’s future.

Since 2000, Worthington’s foreign-born population has swelled to almost 30% of the town’s total. Meanwhile, Minnesota has spent billions teaching English to the state’s 75,000 English learners, costing taxpayers $1.2 billion on ESL programs in 2020. Despite this, Minnesota’s public schools face challenges. From 2019 to 2022, the number of fourth graders not proficient in reading grew from 62% to 70%, and eighth graders struggling with math also rose to nearly 70%. Chronic absenteeism remains another significant issue, with a third of students missing 10% or more school days in 2021-2022.