Since our state’s earliest days, immigration has kept Minnesota strong and competitive. From our Scandinavian and German roots to our Slovenians, Croatians, and Serbs on the Iron Range to our Liberian, Hmong, Somali, and Ethiopian communities, our state’s heritage is filled with immigrants working on the front lines, starting companies, and expanding economic opportunity for all of us.
Some of Minnesota’s most successful companies were founded and are led by immigrants and children of immigrants. Minnesota’s story is also America’s story. More than 30 percent of U.S. Nobel Laureates were born abroad and almost half of America’s Fortune 500 companies were started by people born in other countries or their children. In an increasingly global economy, immigrants continue to be a major economic driver in our economy.
Immigrant families don’t diminish America, they define America. They strengthen America. They are America. Legal immigration strengthens America’s workforce and ensures that we maintain our global competitive edge. We cannot afford to shut out the world’s talent or drive away those who call our country home–including immigrants who are now working as healthcare professionals and other front–line employees, often in rural and underserved urban areas. We don’t know who will create the next Post–it Note. But we do know one thing: when they do, we want them doing it here in America.
As Minnesota’s U.S. senator, I will continue to focus on these priorities:
- Securing our borders. As we face global and domestic threats, securing our borders, points of entry, and infrastructure must be a top priority. That is why I supported bipartisan legislation led by Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma to provide emergency powers to shut the border down and to fix our broken asylum system. The bill would have invested significant resources for more border patrol agents, immigration judges, and technology so that law enforcement would have the tools they need to secure our border. It also would have reformed our asylum process. I also fought to secure significant funding to improve the detection and seizure of fentanyl at our border.
- Finding solutions to reform our immigration system. I have continued to work in a bipartisan fashion on immigration reform, which is crucial to moving our country and our economy forward. The bipartisan immigration bill I supported also included additional legal pathways to come into the United States. It would have included 250,000 new visas and employment permits for use over the next five years, which would have gone a long way toward filling worker shortages.
While I supported the 2024 bipartisan compromise, I also continue to fight for comprehensive immigration reform. When I arrived in the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy asked Senator Whitehouse and me to be members of the immigration reform working group, and I worked with then-Senator Kennedy on the bipartisan immigration reform effort with the Bush Administration. Unfortunately, despite much work, the compromise bill did not pass the Senate. And, years later, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, I was part of the successful effort to pass the 2013 bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate that included a pathway to citizenship, prioritized enforcement of existing laws, addressed border security, and reformed our visa system. It also included the DREAM Act. The bill was estimated to decrease the deficit by $158 billion over 10 years. In the end, despite President Obama’s support, the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill was not allowed a vote in the then-Republican House.
In February 2021, I once again joined a group of senators in introducing the U.S. Citizenship Act, a comprehensive immigration bill that affirms our values and strengthens our economy by providing a pathway to citizenship, equipping law enforcement with smart and effective investments to effectively manage the border, addressing the root causes of migration, and supporting refugees and asylum seekers. - Treating immigrants, including DREAMers, with fairness and compassion. I will continue to seek solutions when it comes to immigration reform and border security. I opposed a number of the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional proposals that were later struck down by judges appointed by presidents of both parties, including the end to birthright citizenship. I have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to introduce bipartisan legislation to protect DREAMers. In Minnesota, we are proud to be the home of more than 5,000 DREAMers, who have already passed background checks, paid fees, and met educational requirements so that they can stay here in the United States, pay taxes, serve in the military, and contribute to their communities.
Since my first year in the Senate, I’ve worked to extend protections for Liberian immigrants in the United States, and in December 2019, legislation that I long supported to allow eligible Liberians on Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status to apply for permanent residency and provide them with a path to citizenship became law. I also believe that there should be humane conditions for immigrants who are held at border crossings and support ending the use of for-profit immigration detention facilities. I have supported legislation related to establishing requirements for how children in immigration custody should be treated, as well as providing lawyers for kids going through immigration proceedings. During the first Trump Administration, I worked with a bipartisan group of many Republicans and Democrats to pass a version of the DREAM Act to solve the issues of people living in our country on deferred status and provide additional funding for border security. Unfortunately for our immigrants and our entire country, the Trump Administration rejected it. - Keeping our covenant and supporting our Afghan allies. In 2021, thousands of Afghan citizens were forced to flee the violence of the Taliban, many of whom risked everything in support of our troops, and now live and work in the United States with temporary legal status. We must do what we can to help Afghans who sought refuge in our country to find stability, opportunity, and community. That is why in the last Congress I worked across the aisle to lead the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act with Senators Graham, Coons, Moran, Blumenthal, Murkowski, Shaheen, Wicker, Durbin, Tillis, Mullin, Menendez, Cassidy, Reed, Risch, Crapo, Sinema, and King. Our bipartisan bill would vet our Afghan allies and provide them with a pathway to permanency. The bill was modeled after other bipartisan bills that Congress has passed in the wake of other humanitarian crises, including the Vietnam War. The bill would allow Afghans who submit to additional vetting to apply for permanent status in the United States. Provisions based on my bill were included in bipartisan border legislation negotiated by Senator Lankford and considered by the Senate. While that bill unfortunately did not pass, I will continue to fight to give our new Afghan neighbors the certainty that they need to set down roots, and will oppose actions that interfere with or call into doubt whether the United States will stand by our wartime allies.
The Afghan Adjustment Act has been supported by all of the leading veterans groups including The American Legion, VFW, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, business groups including the Chamber of Commerce, and retired military officials and ambassadors to Afghanistan. I was honored to receive the 2024 Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Legion for my support of the Afghan allies who stood with our troops. - Welcoming refugees fleeing violence. Minnesota has a proud history of welcoming those fleeing wars and repression. We have the largest Somali and Ethiopian populations in the country and some of the largest Liberian and Hmong populations. I have personally visited refugee camps overseas and heard from men, women, and children who have witnessed atrocities that, in the words of one refugee, would “make stones cry.” The United States must maintain our country’s leadership in providing refuge for people in need. That’s why I strongly oppose President Trump’s Executive Order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Our strength and vitality come from the diversity of our people. That’s true in Minnesota and it’s true across this country.
In the Senate, I cosponsored legislation to maintain our country’s leadership in providing refuge for people in crisis by reversing the first Trump Administration’s dramatic reduction in the refugee admissions cap, while also maintaining thorough vetting and strong national security measures. I have also cosponsored legislation to extend protections for Ukrainians who sought safety in the United States after Russia’s invasion in 2022, and to allow qualified Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure recipients to apply for legal permanent residency so they do not have to fear being sent back to a country they no longer call home. In 2018, Refugee International presented our office with the Congressional Leadership Award for our work to support refugee communities. - Supporting immigrant-owned businesses. About one in four of our country’s small businesses are started by immigrants. We must invest in the economic well-being of our immigrant communities, and I have long supported increasing funding for small lenders and community-based financial institutions that serve the needs of underserved small businesses—including immigrant-owned businesses. We must do more to overcome historic disenfranchisement by considering the needs of minority communities.
- Protecting immigrant victims of domestic violence. When the Senate was considering comprehensive immigration reform, I took the lead in ensuring that the bill included provisions to help protect immigrant victims of domestic violence by allowing women in the U.S. with spouses on temporary visas to petition for independent immigration status—encouraging them to come forward and receive the assistance they need. No one should be forced to remain in an abusive relationship due to fear of losing their legal status.
Although the 2013 Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill was not allowed a vote in the House, I have continued to work to protect immigrant victims of domestic violence, and I have introduced legislation to allow immigrants facing domestic abuse with spouses on a temporary visa to apply for independent immigration status. And, more recently, I have worked to ensure that immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other serious crimes continue to have access to programs through which they can obtain legal status independent of their abusers. - Helping immigrant doctors to practice in areas of need. For years I have led bipartisan legislation to extend the Conrad 30 program, which allows international doctors trained in the United States to remain in the country if they practice in underserved areas. The program has brought approximately 20,000 doctors to underserved areas, including many rural areas that are short on doctors and rely on the program to fill the gaps. I also successfully pressed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to waive certain restrictions that prevent doctors in the Conrad 30 program from providing medical care at locations where help is needed.
- Supporting families and children through adoption. Like so many Minnesotans, I share the belief that every child should have a safe home and a loving family. As county attorney and now as the Senate co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, I have worked to ensure safe and secure adoptions and assist families who are adopting children. Minnesota has a strong tradition of welcoming children from around the world and holds one of the highest per capita rates of international adoption. Intercountry adoptions should be as straightforward and safe as possible for American families. That’s why I supported the American Taxpayer Relief Act in 2013, which made the adoption tax credit permanent, and cosponsor the bipartisan Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act to make this tax credit fully refundable. In addition, Senator Wicker and I lead bipartisan legislation to ensure access to local, trusted adoption service providers. We must ensure that adoptive families—regardless of whether they are adopting here at home or internationally—have the full support and services they may need throughout the adoption process.
I also authored the bipartisan Accuracy for Adoptees Act, signed into law by President Obama in early 2014, which cuts red tape for adoptive families and ensures that corrections made to adoptees’ birth certificates by state courts would be recognized by the federal government. I also authored and passed the bipartisan International Adoption Simplification Act to help siblings stay together during an international adoption and protect adoptees from unsafe immunizations in foreign countries. - Uniting children with families. Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Minnesota families who had nearly complete Haitian adoptions began contacting my office for help bringing their children home. Over the course of approximately two months following the earthquake, my office worked with 25 families to help connect Haitian children with their new families in Minnesota. I worked to help families impacted by the Russian government’s ban on American adoption of Russian children and called on the Russian government to allow for the completion of adoption cases that were initiated prior to the ban. I have also advocated for the swift completion of adoption cases for Chinese children matched with American families, many of whom have unique health care needs and have waited years for these adoptions to be finalized.