Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated the legal status of a convicted child sex offender from Laos and had him removed from the United States, weeks after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the state Board of Pardons wiped the man's criminal record in what federal officials say was a deliberate attempt to block his deportation.
Tue Lue Vang pleaded guilty in 2005 to first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota between 2002 and 2004. On June 10, the three-member Board of Pardons, Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison, and state Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, granted Vang clemency, erasing the conviction that had made him removable from the country.
The pardon came just days before Vang was scheduled to be deported, Fox News Digital reported in an exclusive. Rubio moved to strip Vang's status anyway, and federal authorities carried out the removal.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Secretary of State laid out the case against Walz's decision in blunt terms:
"Just weeks ago, a foreign child rapist was freed to once again endanger America's children after receiving a pardon from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Tue Lue Vang admitted to committing heinous crimes against a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota. He attempted to pay his victim for her silence and dismissed his acts of child abuse as a 'minor thing.'"
Rubio added that he personally terminated Vang's legal status and confirmed the deportation was complete.
"Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators, shielded by their own elected officials, could endanger them or their children. That's why I terminated his legal status in the United States. Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again."
Walz, for his part, offered a starkly different rationale when he voted for clemency. He told the board he could "find no reason how Minnesota will be safer or better if Mr. Vang is deported to a country he has not been to since he was a child." He described Vang as a "critical member of the community" and a "taxpaying citizen" who was "creating job growth and living a life free from any criminal activity."
That word, "citizen", drew immediate scrutiny. Vang is described in federal records as an illegal immigrant, not a U.S. citizen. Walz's office has not publicly explained the discrepancy.
The facts of Vang's case are difficult to read. He repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl beginning when she was around ten years old. The abuse stretched from 2002 to 2004. When authorities confronted him, Vang told them "it is a cultural thing... to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12."
He pleaded guilty in 2005 to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and was convicted in 2006. The New York Post reported that Ramsey County prosecutors had opposed Vang's clemency bid, noting the victim had faced family pressure not to cooperate with the original prosecution. That pressure contributed to a lenient sentence, Vang largely avoided prison time through a plea deal, the Post reported.
Despite the conviction, Vang was never deported. His legal status was revoked, but he remained in Minnesota for years. Then, as the Trump administration moved to enforce his removal order, Walz and the Board of Pardons intervened with the June 10 pardon.
The Department of Homeland Security did not treat the pardon as a routine act of mercy. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis issued a public statement calling out Walz by name:
"Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting. These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting."
Newsmax reported that DHS stated the pardon removed the qualifying convictions that had made Vang removable from the United States, meaning the clemency could have effectively blocked federal deportation authority altogether. Bis called on Walz to "stop these dangerous political games and to stop prioritizing criminal illegal aliens over American citizens."
The federal government found a way around it. Rubio terminated Vang's legal status through his authority as Secretary of State, and DHS carried out the removal. The exact legal mechanism Rubio invoked has not been publicly detailed.
This was not the first time Walz's Board of Pardons shielded an illegal immigrant from deportation. In May, the same board pardoned Jai Vang, a separate Laotian national convicted of felony armed robbery, before he could be removed from the country. Breitbart noted that the pattern made future deportation of pardoned individuals nearly impossible, since the pardons erased the underlying convictions.
Two pardons. Two illegal immigrants facing removal. Both from Laos. Both pardoned just ahead of scheduled deportations. At a certain point, coincidence stops being a plausible explanation.
The nine-member Minnesota Clemency Review Commission recommended the pardon to the Board of Pardons before the June 10 vote. A CRC member sent Vang a letter afterward, telling him: "Being granted a pardon is a notable achievement and a reflection of the work you have done since your conviction." The name of the CRC member who wrote the letter has not been disclosed.
The governor's office has pointed to a letter the victim provided to the board, saying such pleas for clemency carry significant weight. But Ramsey County prosecutors opposed the clemency, and the victim's own history of being pressured by family not to cooperate raises serious questions about how freely any such letter was given.
The pardon controversy lands on a governor already facing intense scrutiny on multiple fronts. Vice President JD Vance recently sent evidence of Minnesota welfare fraud to the Department of Justice, targeting both Walz and Ellison for a criminal inquiry.
That referral followed a state oversight report that found Walz's administration had shielded fraud suspects by branding auditors as racists, a finding that raised questions about whether the governor's team prioritized political optics over basic accountability.
Walz also skipped a fraud hearing while inside the state Capitol, drawing criticism from Republican lawmakers who said the governor was ducking oversight.
Now add to that record: using the pardon power to wipe the conviction of a man who pleaded guilty to raping a child, timed to prevent federal authorities from removing him from the country.
Several questions remain open. The Board of Pardons vote was described as a decision by all three members, but it is unclear whether the vote was unanimous or whether Ellison and Hudson have publicly defended their positions. Neither has been quoted on the matter.
Vang's exact deportation date has not been disclosed, nor has the specific country to which he was removed, though Laos is strongly implied by Walz's own reference to "a country he has not been to since he was a child." The legal authority Rubio used to terminate Vang's status has not been spelled out publicly.
And there is the question of Vang's age. The Washington Examiner reported that Vang is 42 years old, meaning he was in his late teens or early twenties when he began assaulting a 10-year-old girl. He received a plea deal that largely kept him out of prison. He was never deported despite losing his legal status. And when federal authorities finally moved to remove him, the governor of Minnesota stepped in to erase his conviction.
Every institution that had a chance to hold Vang accountable either looked the other way or actively intervened on his behalf, until the federal government overrode them all.
Walz described Vang as a "critical member of the community." Rubio described him as a "foreign child rapist." Only one of those descriptions is supported by the man's guilty plea.
The pardon power exists for genuine mercy, for cases where justice was excessive or rehabilitation is undeniable. Using it to shield a convicted child sex offender from lawful deportation is not mercy. It is a choice, and it tells you everything about whose side the governor is on.
