Hope Walz, daughter of Minnesota governor and former vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, shared a Christmas message that included a rebuke of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), expressing solidarity with communities she says are being harmed by the agency’s actions.
In a video posted to social media on Christmas Day, Hope Walz said, “I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all. Today I am holding all of our neighbors that ICE has been terrorizing near and dear to my heart, and sending them love and light, as well as all of our unhoused folks and just anybody that may be struggling right now, I’m holding very close to me, and I hope that you can all do so as well. This past year has been a tough one for all of us, but I’m so proud of the work that I have done in this awesome community and everything that you guys do every day. And yeah, happy holidays.”
The remarks mark the latest in a series of politically charged statements from the 24-year-old. In August, Hope Walz referred to what she called Trump’s “bitch baby, wussy, scaredy cat behavior in D.C.” in a social media video, using it as a springboard to discuss the history of mass incarceration in the United States.
She cited reading Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr. while at the University of Minnesota and recommended pairing it with The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Walz argued that these books help explain “modern mass incarceration of like Black men,” and claimed the federal crackdown on crime under Trump is a continuation of longstanding U.S. policies that target those who are not “rich and white men.” She added, “It’s just like, more of it,” when describing Trump’s efforts in the capital.
In April, she decided not to attend graduate school, saying she would not support institutions that “don’t support their students and the right to protest.”
Read the full article here