Trump admin deports convicted sex offender pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

Far-left Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claimed that there was ‘no reason’ to deport a sex offender convicted in 2006.

(LifeSiteNews) – Far-left Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz is unrepentant about pardoning a convicted pedophile, declaring he sees “no reason” for deporting the non-citizen predator. As covered by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Laotian national Tou Lue Vang entered the United States as a child refugee in the early 1990s. In 2006, he was convicted for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl over a three-year period, starting when he was 18 years old.

He was sentenced to 12 years in jail (downgraded to one year in a county workhouse and 30 years of supervised probation). At the time, Vang attempted to blame his actions on cultural differences between Thailand and America. His conviction also made him subject to deportation under federal law, and removal was ordered in late 2006 but stayed for years due to Laos’ status as a “recalcitrant” country, i.e., one unwilling to accept Laotian nationals deported from America.

Last year, Laos began accepting some deportees and Vang was re-arrested in December. But his petition for a pardon was fast-tracked and granted unanimously by the state Board of Pardons, which is composed of Walz, Democrat state Attorney General Keith Ellison, and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson. But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced July 10 it had deported Vang anyway.

“ICE deported Tou Vang, an illegal alien convicted child rapist. This monster repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “Tim Walz pardoned this sex criminal in an attempt to allow him to remain in our country.

These are the criminal illegal aliens he and sanctuary politicians are protecting. We will always put the safety of the American people first.” The Center Square reported that Walz addressed the controversy at a recent press conference.

“I would note that immigration status or pending deportation is not a reason in and of itself in the granting of a pardon,” the governor said. “In Mr. Vang’s case, I state this: I can 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. I do not see how it would serve his family and the stability of his family, nor the economic interests of Minnesota, where we have a tax-paying citizen who is creating job growth and living a life free from any criminal activity.”

Walz rose to national prominence when former Vice President Kamala Harris chose him as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, where his left-wing radicalism helped render him ineffective at helping Harris defeat President Donald Trump. As covered by LifeSiteNews during the campaign, Walz honeymooned in China and has previously said the United States need not be in an “adversarial relationship” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, and as governor he has long supported the University of Minnesota’s Hormel Institute, which is associated with China’s notorious Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

In his former job as a Nebraska teacher, Walz once hosted a delegation of Chinese teachers linked to the CCP’s intelligence apparatus. Last year, it was reported that his far-left leadership contributed to abortions hitting a 20-year high, and he has backed regulations under which public school teachers who refuse to affirm LGBT student “identities” may be forced out of their careers.