Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is still defending the pardon of Tou Lue Vang, a Laotian national convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl who was 10 when the abuse began.
Walz’s answer Tuesday was to question whether the deportation solved anything, even after Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Vang out of the country.
“They made that choice,” Walz said of the deportation. “I guess the question I would ask is, ‘Did that make us any safer? Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable?’”
“Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?” he added.
The pardon came last month through Minnesota’s three-member Board of Pardons, with Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson accepting the Clemency Review Commission’s recommendation.
.@GovTimWalz and Minnesota sanctuary politicians PARDONED an illegal alien who REPEATEDLY SEXUALLY ASSAULTED A 10-YEAR-OLD.
On June 10, the Minnesota Board of Pardons voted to grant Tou Lue Vang, from Laos, a pardon for his 2006 convictions for sexual assault—strongarm sodomy… pic.twitter.com/RErAWX2sp6
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 1, 2026
Immigration consequences were central to the commission’s 4-2 recommendation, which concluded that deporting Vang would “not in the best interest of society.”
The underlying crime has fueled the backlash. The victim was 10 when the abuse began in 2002, while Vang was 18, according to investigators. Over the next two years, he repeatedly sexually assaulted her and later offered money to keep her quiet.
After his arrest, Vang argued that the victim should be charged too and described the abuse as cultural.
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“I made a mistake, but this is a minor thing. It is a cultural thing in Thailand to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12,” he reportedly told police.
His punishment amounted to eight months at the Ramsey County, Minnesota, Correctional Workhouse followed by 30 years of supervised probation.
Prosecutors later said pressure from the victim’s own family kept her from cooperating with law enforcement.
Walz, while defending the pardon decision, pointed to Vang’s family and questioned why federal officials waited so long to remove him.
“In many cases, their children are citizens,” the failed vice presidential candidate said. “And by just picking them up and taking them out with no due process, it just seems unfair. If you think this person should have been gone, why didn’t you take them for the last 30 years?”
The governor then tried to separate his defense of the pardon from the nature of the conviction.
“And I want to be very clear,” Walz continued. “These are horrific crimes. They often are.”
Walz tried to frame the pardon as something other than immigration policy, pointing out that other applicants with immigration-related consequences had still been denied clemency.
He also misstated a key fact while discussing the case. “Just remember, both were minors,” Walz incorrectly said while addressing the pardon.
DHS put Vang’s immigration history back in the spotlight, saying he came to the United States in 1994, received legal status under the Clinton administration and was ordered deported on Oct. 31, 2006, after his conviction.
The Department of Homeland Security tore into the pardon after the Minnesota board acted.
“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said.
Bis argued that the pardon targeted the convictions that made Vang removable.
“These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting. Tou Lue Vang lost his legal status following his conviction for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl,” she detailed.
“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.”
Ellison backed the board’s decision in comments to KSTP-TV.
“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,” he stated.
Ellison also accused DHS of “lying through their teeth” about whether the pardon shielded Vang from deportation.
The pardon ultimately did not keep Vang in the United States.
“Just days before this foreign sex offender was scheduled to be deported, Tim Walz the governor issued him a pardon, setting him free to once again endanger the children of America,” Rubio said in a social media video.
Laotian national Tou Lue Vang was convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota.
He was set to be deported until @GovTimWalz issued him a pardon.
Then, I revoked his legal status. @ICEgov has removed him from the U.S. and he will never endanger another… pic.twitter.com/WCJkeeheJO
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 10, 2026
Rubio credited the removal to his own decision to terminate Vang’s legal status.
“As a result, federal agents took him into custody, and as of today, he has been removed from the United States,” Rubio added. “Because of our actions, this foreign criminal will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”
“This administration will always stand with the American people and defend them from violent criminals.”
Rubio also defended the deportation in comments to Fox News.
“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,” Rubio told the outlet.
“That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States,” Rubio continued. “Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”
The pardon also gave Minnesota House Republican Speaker Lisa Demuth, a gubernatorial candidate, an opening to hammer both Walz and Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
“Deport child predators. Do not pardon child predators,” Demuth posted. “Not sure why that’s a hard concept for Tim Walz and Amy Klobuchar to understand.”
Klobuchar answered by making clear she would not have backed the pardon.
“As a former prosecutor I have not supported pardons for sex offenders and would not have voted for this pardon.”
