The Department of Homeland Security blasted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission for granting a pardon to Tou Lue Vang, a man convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct of a ten-year-old girl in 2006. Minnesota’s Board of Pardons, on its Clemency Review Commission, includes Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Justice Natalie Hudson.
Vang was set to be deported to Laos, according to DHS. However, his pardon was issued on June 10, 2026, a week before he was supposed to be deported. Now, the pardon could reportedly “thwart his removal from the United States.”
“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” said acting assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis. “These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting.”
Vang entered the country in 1994 and was “granted legal status” by the Clinton administration, according to DHS. Court records revealed that he “repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl between 2002 and 2004. He also offered the girl he abused “$10 to keep quiet about the sexual assaults.” During interviews with law enforcement at the time, Vang shifted blame of the abuse on his culture, claiming it was permissible to “marry and have sex with girls as young as 12.” DHS also claimed Vang said the girl he abused was equally as guilty as him and “should be arrested too.”
Court records show that Vang pleaded guilty to “penetration or contact with a person under 13 years old by an actor more than 36 months older” on October 31, 2005, and was sentenced in February 2006 to 12 years, “with the sentence stayed.” He was also issued 30 years of supervised probation. His legal status was revoked after his conviction, and he was issued a final order of removal in 2006.
“The Minnesota Board of Pardons made a unanimous decision to grant Tou Vang this pardon after an exhaustive process which included a statement of support for the pardon from the victim, a recommendation to grant the pardon from the Clemency Review Commission, and a large number of community support letters,” Ellison’s office said in a statement to The New York Times.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also commented in a social media post about Vang’s pardon, reiterating that it was granted a week before his scheduled deportation.
“The Minnesota Board of Pardons voted June 10 to grant Tou Lue Vang, of Laos, a pardon for his 2006 convictions for sexual assault — strongarm sodomy and procuring a child for prostitution,” ICE posted on X. “This pardon came just a week before Vang was set to be REMOVED from our nation.”
Meanwhile, Bis noted how such pardons complicate the job of the Department of Homeland Security and allow a child rapist to remain in the U.S. She lamented the decision to pardon Vang, stressing his conviction for raping a preteen.
“Tou Lue Vang lost his legal status following his conviction for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl,” Bis said. “Following the conviction, he was placed in removal proceedings and issued a final order of removal by a judge. This pardon will take away this child rapist’s qualifying convictions that made him removable from the United States.”