Dear Neighbor,
House Democrats want to take your hard-earned money and give it to people who enter our state illegally at a time we are experiencing an immigration crisis.
That’s not hyperbole. It’s not parsing their words. And, after this week, it’s not even up for debate. It’s the honest to God truth.
House Democrats cemented themselves in this position when they brought an omnibus human services policy bill to the floor this week. House Republicans offered an amendment to the bill that would clarify a grant program for new Americans does not apply to illegal immigrants.
You can probably guess what happened next.
House Democrats responded by quashing the amendment, ultimately voting to confirm that, yes, our state government can divert your hard-earned money to people who enter Minnesota illegally. It amounts to a relocation bonus, paid for by law-abiding Minnesota taxpayers to support people who broke the law to come to our state and continue breaking the law each day that they remain within our borders.
Not that Democrats want to talk about this. In fact, during deliberation of the human services bill, a House Republican posed what – for most of us – is a very easy question to answer: What percentage of our state budget should be spent on people here illegally? At least 10 different House Democrats broke from custom by refusing to yield to this question. Then the House Democrat leader abused the rules in an attempt to gag the minority so they could proceed recklessly spending your money on illegal immigrants without having to talk about it. They know most Minnesotans staunchly oppose their extreme position.
It's yet another case of Democrats taking radical actions most Minnesotans are not asking for and no legislators are pushing to the general public.
Last year, Democrats enacted driver’s licenses for all, automatic voter registration, free college, and incentives to abstain from working. A law stablishing Minnesota as a full-on sanctuary state by prohibiting state or local governments from cooperating with federal immigration agencies surely cannot be far behind unless we restore balance in St. Paul soon.
This taxpayer funding of illegal immigrants is just the latest example of how Minnesotans who follow the rules are suffering under extremist Democrats in full control of our Capitol. Tax Day was this week, which reminds us of another way Minnesotans continue to feel pain under current state leadership.
I recently completed my own family’s taxes and discovered in horror that we owed much more than we already paid this year. It’s amazing to look back at the quality of life you have enjoyed throughout the year only to find out that, according to your government, you deserved to enjoy it less. According to your government, you should have made even less money to put food on the table, fill up your car with gas or simply pursue happiness. Anecdotally, I’m hearing similar experiences from other families – including some that are accustomed to receiving annual refunds.
One major problem at the state level is that Democrats raised taxes on Minnesotans by $10 billion despite a $19 billion state surplus and they continue to find new ways to take more money out of family budgets. Of the $10 billion in Democrat tax hikes, only $3 billion of it has gone into effect, which means the pain has just begun. There’s a whole lot more coming, including the Democrats’ new delivery tax which take effect in 11 weeks to make everything you have delivered to your door more expensive.
Here’s the question: Democrats blew the historic surplus and sent taxes skyrocketing to increase state spending by 40 percent. What do we have to show for it? How is the Democrats spending 40 percent more helping you and your family? It likely isn’t, because it’s being spent on select groups Democrats chose to fund – even illegal ones.
We are experiencing a fundamental injustice in Minnesota, where the more responsible you are, the more punishment you endure. Democrats continue taking more and more from people who are doing the right thing and providing for their families, to redistribute that hard-earned treasure to those who are breaking laws to be here.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to focus on essentials such as nursing homes, childcare and ambulances.
If that doesn’t say it all about our vast difference in priorities, I’m not sure what does.
Sincerely,
Walter