The White House hit back hard Thursday at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s state of the state address in which Kamala Harris’ former running mate slammed President Donald Trump over his immigration policies and other “chaos.”
“It’s rich of Tim ‘Jazz Hands’ Walz to decry chaos when he let his largest city burn to the ground while his wife opened their mansion’s windows to savor the fumes,” White House deputy press secretary, Harrison Fields, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, referring to the Minneapolis George Floyd riots of 2020. “Walz also willingly served alongside Vice President Harris, who presided over one of the most chaotic administrations in American history.”
The former Democratic vice presidential candidate used his state of the state address on Wednesday to criticize Trump and his administration for moving to deport illegal immigrants, including suspected gang members, as well as terrorist sympathizers.
“The president has also chosen, and I stress this, chosen, to tear up the values that once made America the shining light of the world. In this land of the free and home of the brave, we have university students being swept up, shoved into unmarked vans, and fathers being tossed into Salvadorian gulags without a hint of due process,” Walz claimed.
“I want to be real clear about this. If you say you love freedom, but you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it’s privilege,” the governor said, garnering a standing ovation on the Minnesota House floor.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz delivers his state of the state address before a joint session of the Legislature at the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
Walz appeared to indirectly reference the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia – an illegal immigrant and suspected member of MS-13, which the administration newly designated a foreign terrorist organization. The administration admitted to mistakenly deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, though Trump and federal officials have doubled down on Abrego Garcia’s alleged ties to the violent Mexican gang, as well as a domestic violence case involving his wife claiming he beat her.
Abrego Garcia was initially suspected of human smuggling during a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop but was not charged. Democrats, categorizing Abrego Garcia as a “Maryland father,” meanwhile, have traveled to El Salvador to visit him while urging the administration to comply with Supreme Court and other court orders instructing that he be returned to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia was initially held at the El Salvadoran megaprison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), but he has since been transferred to the lower security Centro Industrial Penitentiary facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador. The State Department said in court filings he remains held there “in good conditions and in an excellent state of health.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a town hall event in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney,File)
Waltz also appeared to excoriate how federal immigration authorities have taken into custody foreign students whose visas were rescinded by the Trump administration for allegedly organizing anti-Israel demonstrations at U.S. college campuses.
Though Waltz did not mention anyone by name, another group of House Democrats traveled to Louisiana detention facilities holding Tufts University fifth-year doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil this week.
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The Democratic governor also took jabs at Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, claiming that the Trump administration wants to take Medicaid coverage away.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz acknowledges the applause of the House chamber before he delivers his state of the state address before a joint session of the Legislature at the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
“I can’t help but point out that we also gather at a moment of great uncertainty for our nation. And let’s be honest, this uncertainty, this chaos is no accident,” Waltz said. “The President of the United States has chosen, chosen to destroy the federal government’s ability to help people. He literally hired the richest man in the world to take a chainsaw to the basic services that Minnesotans rely on to build better lives. His plan leaves nobody there working to prevent the next pandemic, nobody to pick up the phone at the Social Security office, nobody making sure kids with special needs get the quality education they deserve.”
Walz also slammed Trump over his reciprocal tariffs policies, alleging the Republican president is out of touch with working-class Americans.
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“And on an hour by hour, day by day basis, the President of the United States has chosen, chosen to throw our economy into turmoil,” Walz said. “Global markets are teetering on the brink of collapse. Businesses across this country and here in Minnesota are already laying off employees by the thousands. Working people are paying more for basic goods, and if you haven’t checked your 401k lately, don’t do it. So let’s be very clear. None of this had to happen. When the president took office three months ago, there was no reason to throw a wrench in the works and destroy decades of work. But if you listen to anything that comes out of his mouth, one thing has become clear. He’s just plain confused about how the world really works for working people.”
