SerpApi.Org
GOP gubernatorial hopeful and pillow purveyor Mike Lindell wants to impose a six-month, one-time amnesty period for illegal immigrants living in Minnesota.
“I'd like the whole United States to do this, but let's say I did it here in Minnesota,” Lindell told the Washington Examiner in a Tuesday interview. “Six months, all the illegal immigrants would have to go get what's going to be called a conditional work visa.”
Lindell shared his proposal ahead of a Wednesday forum where he plans to unveil a broader policy platform. The businessman and born-again Christian rose to prominence as CEO of My Pillow, which he founded after a long battle with drug addiction. More recently, he gained a national platform for alleging that election insecurity and fraud riddled the 2020 presidential election.
“I'm a person of second chances, if the only thing they ever did was cross the border and didn't report back in because they were afraid of being re-deported,” Lindell said.
Lindell described how he came to understand the intricacies of illegal immigration during trips to California to source cotton for his pillows.
“I met with the illegals down in San Diego,” Lindell said. “I met with a lot of them and I heard their stories.”
Under Lindell’s proposal, Minnesota would institute a six-month deportation "moratorium" during which illegal immigrants could register for the conditional visas. The visas would not expire, and they would only be available for applicants with clean criminal histories. Lindell specified that illegal immigrants would be fingerprinted upon registration.
“Now, you’re not a citizen,” Lindell said. “You can't vote, but you have this card that now you can work and you can go be paying taxes, be functioning in society.”
Lindell claimed that crime in Minnesota will plummet as newly-legal immigrants “tell on” the illegal immigrants who are committing crimes. He added that employers who take advantage of illegal immigrants and chalk up fines “as the cost of doing business” should be punished.
“If you're caught hiring people for cash again, hiring people for cash, the illegals, you go to prison,” Lindell continued. “The CEO will go to prison for 90 days, or to jail.”
It was not immediately clear how Lindell planned to negotiate with the Trump administration over his proposal. Immigration enforcement is typically the responsibility of the federal government.
“I told that on a station up here, Esme Murphy, and she said, ‘Well, Mike, the Republicans aren't going to like that, and maybe the president won’t like it,’” Lindell added about his immigration proposal. “And I said, ‘I don't care.’ I said, ‘This is going to work.’”
President Donald Trump endorsed the “Pillow Man” last week. Still, Lindell referred to the January “tragedies” of Alex Pretti and Renee Good being shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minnesota.
“Any people dying is tragic,” Lindell added. “You know, I'm sorry. That's the way I am.”
The shootings forced the Trump administration to curtail its marquee immigration enforcement program in the Twin Cities. Lindell said he would enforce protest laws and cooperate with ICE to avoid future violence.
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Lindell also responded to skepticism about his bid from the Minnesota GOP, which said in a statement last week that it was “surprised” by Trump’s endorsement. The party added that voters “must choose the candidate best positioned to defeat Amy Klobuchar.”
“Everybody knows me in Minnesota,” Lindell said. “I went everywhere back when I was selling the pillow. Nobody can win like I can.”
