Would you pardon a man convicted of raping a child? Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz just did.
On June 10, 2026, Minnesota's Board of Pardons voted to wipe out the 2006 conviction of Tou Lue Vang, a 42-year-old immigrant from Laos.
Vang had pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct after repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl who was just 10 years old at the time.
The vote was unanimous. It took about 15 minutes.
The Democrats' priorities:
“Governor Tim Walz Pardons Criminal Illegal Alien Convicted of Sexually Assaulting a 10-Year-Old Girl”https://t.co/FQnOQyLOjC
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) July 2, 2026
Who's On This Board, Anyway?
Minnesota's Board of Pardons isn't just the governor. It's three people: Gov. Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson.
All three voted yes.
Chief Justice Hudson gave a brief explanation, saying she saw “evidence of rehabilitation.” Walz didn't comment publicly on his vote at all. He just raised his hand and moved on.
Why This Pardon Matters So Much
This isn't just about wiping a record clean. Vang had already lost his legal status because of this conviction.
A federal immigration judge had ordered him removed from the country back in 2006. He was detained by ICE last year and was just days away from being deported to Laos.
The pardon changes that. It knocks out the very conviction that made him removable in the first place.
“Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” said DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. She added that Vang “lost his legal status following his conviction for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl.”
According to DHS, Vang once offered his young victim $10 to stay quiet and later told police it was “a cultural thing…to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12.”
Not sure what culture we're referencing here, because in America, that's sexual assault.
Not the First Time
DHS says this isn't a one-off. Back in May, the same commission pardoned another man from Laos named Jai Vang, whose rap sheet includes robbery, robbery of a business with a gun, and driving under the influence.
That's two pardons for people with serious criminal records in just two months.
The Other Side of the Story
The Attorney General's office says the deciding factor was a letter from the victim herself, now grown, saying she'd forgiven Vang.
“What happened to me was wrong, but I have had many years to think about this. I have made my peace with it. I forgive him,” she wrote.
Ellison's office also pushed back hard on DHS, calling their statement misleading and insisting the pardon “does not protect Vang from deportation.”
Technically, they're right that a pardon alone doesn't guarantee he stays. Federal officials would still have to choose to restore his green card.
But why even make that choice possible? Why take a paperwork problem that immigration officials already solved back in 2006 and hand it right back to them?
Politics Getting Involved
This story's already spilling into Minnesota's governor's race.
Republican candidate and House Speaker Lisa Demuth weighed in: “Under my leadership, nobody who commits horrific abuses against children will be pardoned.”
She also took a swing at Walz's would-be successor, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, for staying quiet on the whole thing.
What Voters Deserve to Ask
Forgiveness is a personal thing, and nobody can take that away from a victim.
But pardons aren't personal. They're public decisions made by public officials, and the public gets to ask questions about them.
A grown woman can forgive the man who hurt her. That's her right.
Whether the state should use that forgiveness to help him dodge deportation is a whole different question – and it's one Minnesota voters are clearly not done asking.
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