The Daily Wire held a focus group in Minnesota, asking voters about their thoughts on the impact illegal immigration has had on the North Star State. The event was hosted by Cabot Phillips, a senior editor with the conservative news outlet.
“You have a lot of these young children from countries all over the world that can’t speak English, so they come into the public schools and now the attention from local kids, taxpaying families, are now redirected towards illegals,” a Minnesota resident named Bob said. “Again, I want them to seek an education, but you gotta come here legally to do it.”
A young woman named Maria talked about how the situation at the southern border has contributed to a rise in drug trafficking in Minnesota. Another participant said his friend’s 90-year-old father passed away after attempting to seek care at a local hospital that was overburdened with with illegal immigrants.
“14.5 hours in the waiting room, he developed sepsis, and dies a week later,” the man, identified as Mark, said. “The waiting room was so loaded with illegal immigrants, he was put on the back burner, and he’s no longer with us.”
“The waiting room was so full of illegal immigrants, he was put on the back burner and now he’s no longer with us,” a man shares how he believes the border crisis is impacting Minnesotans during a focus group conducted by the Daily Wire. pic.twitter.com/b3hcYsGlSA
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) August 30, 2024
Walz and the 2020 riots
Phillips recently visited Minneapolis and talked with Alpha News’ Liz Collin about Gov. Tim Walz, the 2020 riots, and more.
“It really does look almost entirely different than what it once did, for sure,” Collin said of Minneapolis.
Collin and Phillips discussed how quickly the riots broke out, the way policing has since changed, how depleted the Minneapolis police force has become, and how, in Collin’s view, the local media pushed a “narrative” on the public rather than reporting “the full picture” surrounding the George Floyd story.
Phillips also asked Collin what the country should know about Gov. Walz, the Democrats’ nominee for vice president of the United States.
“He’s being sold as this moderate, ‘aw shucks’ guy who, you know, will give us some dad jokes, but there’s never been a more radical governor, ever, in Minnesota history,” Collin said.
Phillips also visited a homeless encampment and spoke with the owner of a vacant piece of land in South Minneapolis that became occupied by the camp.
“I got a call … that people were coming onto the land and setting up tents,” Arne, the property owner, told Phillips. While they were filming, police escorted Arne onto his own property to put up no trespassing signs.
.@cabot_phillips toured a nice neighborhood turned homeless encampment in Minneapolis, a result of the radical policies of Walz's administration.
See Cabot's conversation with Arne, a landowner whose property was overtaken with limited response from the local authorities. pic.twitter.com/rOPZKgZLHt
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 22, 2024
“Basically, after the pandemic and the George Floyd riots, protests, whatever you want to call them, that’s when everything really changed with Minneapolis,” Arne said about the condition of the city.
Arne explained that he lived mere blocks from where Floyd was killed. A licensed real estate broker and builder, Arne said he experienced “everything that was going on for those three, four days when the city was burning.”
“There was a sense of like, they were just letting it happen for some reason,” added Arne.
“This is ridiculous. Why didn’t they just stop it?” Arne said. “If this was the governor’s mansion, you think they would let this happen? No, they’re not going to allow it if it’s over there, on one of their properties, but they’re allowing it to happen here.”
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
