Fifty Republican senators voted to open the Boundary Waters to a foreign mining company. Somebody explain how that is America First, because here’s who actually benefits.

🇨🇱 The mine is owned by a Chilean billionaire. Andrónico Luksic controls Antofagasta, Chile’s largest mining empire. His family fortune exceeds $25 billion.

🏠 He bought access the smart way. In December 2016, the week after Trump won, Luksic purchased a $5.5 million D.C. mansion through a shell company. Never listed for rent. No paperwork filed. One month later, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner moved in at $15,000 a month while Luksic was actively suing the U.S. government to force open his Minnesota mining leases.

🤝 One year after they moved in, the Trump Interior Department reversed course and renewed those leases. Antofagasta spent over $900,000 lobbying Washington while Kushner and Ivanka lived in Luksic’s home. The former White House chief ethics lawyer under George W. Bush called it “trying to influence” the administration.

🔄 Biden cancelled the leases in 2023. Now they’re back.

🇨🇳 The copper goes to China. Antofagasta already has processing deals with Chinese state-owned smelters. The bill’s own sponsor admitted under questioning the copper ends up “overseas.” The U.S. has no domestic facilities to even process this ore.

💰 The profits go to Chile.

💧 The sulfuric acid stays in the Boundary Waters, which holds 20% of all fresh water in the entire U.S. National Forest system. Sulfide-ore copper mining has contaminated water at 100% of sites where it has been attempted.

🗳️ 675,000 Americans commented. 95% said protect it. Congress threw it all out using a procedural maneuver never used this way before in U.S. history.

🎣 Hunters and anglers fought this. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Trout Unlimited, B.A.S.S., Pheasants Forever and more. The people who use this land.

This is not America First. This is a decade-long return on a very strategic real estate investment.

The fight isn’t over. Minnesota still controls the state permits. No permit, no mine.

📞 Call Governor Walz: 651-201-3400.