Saint Paul, MN – With Governor Tim Walz and legislators huddled behind closed doors making deals for a looming legislative special session, around 50 people from the immigrant rights movement protested May 27 at Walz’s office in the State Capitol. The protest was in response to Governor Walz and legislative leaders announcing that they intend to pass a budget that takes away access to health care from adult immigrants in the state.

In the hallway outside Governor Walz’s office, four speakers talked powerfully about the human and social costs of denying health care access to immigrants. Then the group marched around the capitol rotunda with chants like, “Fight, fight, fight! Healthcare is a human right!” echoing throughout the capitol. The group then went into Walz’s office to ask for a meeting. When the receptionist said no, they stayed in the office, leading more chants.

Robyn Harbison of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) said, “We call on the legislature to reject any budget agreement that would take away health care from immigrants. And if they pass it, we call on Governor Walz to veto it. Immigrants should not be pawns in budget negotiations! To deny health care to any segment of the population is inhumane and wrong. Denying health care to some Minnesota residents will negatively impact all residents.”

Since his vice-presidential run, Governor Walz has positioned himself as a champion of health care on the national level, even arguing that Democrats need to stop tinkering on the edges of the Affordable Care Act and enact universal health care.

But in Minnesota, Walz, along with Democratic Party state legislative leaders are proposing to take health care access away from thousands of Minnesota residents. As the protesters left Governor Walz’s office, they declared they would be back.

Legislators continue to meet behind closed doors to try to hammer out a budget deal, but they keep missing their own self-imposed deadlines. As long as they continue to meet, protest organizers are asking Minnesotans to call their state legislators and Governor Walz to demand that they stop trying to take health care access away from immigrants.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, Minnesota Immigrant Movement, 50501 Minnesota, and the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee.

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Speakers at the rally will include representatives of unions and organizations fighting for immigrant rights and racial and social justice. Among them will be Marcia Howard, president of the teacher chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT); State Representative María Isa Pérez-Vega; Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).

Jovita Morales, an organizer in the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, said, “May 1 has always been important, but this year it matters more than ever. While the wealthy try to strip away our rights – attacking unions, slashing healthcare and education, deporting our neighbors – we are standing together, stronger than ever. We will not accept their cruelty. We will fight for the future our families deserve.”

Sorcha Lona, an organizer with Minnesota Workers United and a rank-and-file member of Teamsters Local 638, commented on the Trump administration’s attacks on organized labor, saying, “All of us in the May 1st Coalition are ready to stand up and fight back against the mass firings of federal workers, the attempts to eliminate their unions, and the efforts from Donald Trump and Elon Musk to privatize the federal government, which includes vital programs like Medicaid, Social Security and public education.”

At a moment of intense attacks on immigrants and workers from the Trump/Musk administration and their corporate backers, the May Day protest is going to show that working-class Minnesotans won’t be divided by our jobs or where we were born in our fight for a better future for all of our families.

Marchers will stand against escalating attacks on immigrants around the country including attacks on immigrants here in Minnesota such ICE detaining immigrants at workplaces from Saint Louis Park to Duluth; the Department of Homeland Security revoking the visas of at least 11 international students at the University of Minnesota, ICE detaining a hospital employee at the hospital where he works in Marshall, as well as other unjust immigration enforcement operations around the state.

The May 1 protest was initiated by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Minnesota Immigrant Movement, Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, and Minnesota Workers United. It is co-sponsored by the following 50 organizations and unions: Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFSCME Local 34, AFSCME 2822, AFSCME Local 3800, Anti-War Committee, Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, Council on American Islamic Relations-MN, Climate Justice Committee, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Communications Workers of America Local 7250, East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, Families Against Military Madness, Filipinx for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice, Free Palestine Coalition, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Healthcare Workers for Palestine, IBEW 292, Indivisible Twin Cities, Indigenous Protector Movement, Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, MN8, Minnesota 50501, Minnesota Abortion Action Committee, Minnesota AFL-CIO, Minnesota BDS Community, Minnesota Federation of Teachers Local 59, Minnesota Immigrant Movement, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Minnesota Workers United, Party for Socialism and Liberation – Twin Cities, Saint Paul Federation of Educators, Service Employees International Union Local 26, Students for a Democratic Society, Teamsters Local 638, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America, United Food & Commercial Workers Local 663, United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1189, UMN Graduate Labor Union-United Electric Local 1105, UNITE HERE Local 17, Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, Women Against Military Madness, Women’s March MN, Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council – MN.

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