Walz Pardons Convicted Child Sex Offender Facing Deportation: NYT

ST. PAUL, MN — The Minnesota Board of Pardons, which includes Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, voted unanimously June 10 to pardon Tou Lue Vang, a 42-year-old Laos native convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The pardon came roughly a week before Vang was scheduled to be deported to Laos, the New York Times reported.

Vang was convicted for repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl between 2002 and 2004, when the victim was 10 to 12 years old. He pleaded guilty in a deal that spared him prison time in favor of 30 years of probation.

The Times reports that when a detective interviewed Vang after his 2005 arrest, he called the abuse a "minor thing" and pointed to cultural norms in Thailand.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case, opposed the pardon.

An attorney in that office wrote that the lenient sentence stemmed partly from family pressure on the young victim not to cooperate. A former county attorney who led the office at the time of sentencing called the pardon unusual given the seriousness of the offense.

Minnesota's Clemency Review Commission recommended the pardon on a 4-2 vote in April, with three of nine members absent. Vang's victim submitted an unsigned statement to the board saying she has made peace with what happened and forgives him.

At the hearing, board members explained their votes individually. Hudson said evidence of rehabilitation mattered but the victim's statement was most significant to her.

Ellison said he has never voted to grant a pardon for the sole purpose of blocking a deportation.

Walz, that same day, voted to deny a pardon for another man facing deportation to Laos whose case involved a group rape of a 12-year-old, saying accountability still applied despite his broader criticism of federal immigration enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security condemned the pardon.

Spokesperson Lauren Bis called Walz's decision "disgusting" and accused Minnesota officials of protecting dangerous immigrants.

DHS noted this was not the state's first pardon involving a Laotian immigrant with a criminal record, pointing to a May pardon for a man convicted of robbery and drunk driving.

Ellison's office defended the process as exhaustive and unanimous, citing the Clemency Review Commission's recommendation, community support letters and the victim's statement.

Whether the pardon ultimately blocks Vang's deportation remains unresolved and is likely to play out in immigration court.