Minnesota Officials Cited Immigration Issues in Recommending Pardon for Convicted Child Rapist

Minnesota Officials Cited Immigration Issues in Recommending Pardon for Convicted Child Rapist

The four Minnesota officials who voted to pardon Tou Lue Vang, an illegal alien from Laos convicted of child rape, cited “immigration concerns” and rehabilitation as reasons for their decision, according to documents from the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission reviewed by Fox News.

The vote was 4-2 to recommend the pardon. The Minnesota Board of Pardons, made up of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, granted Vang a full pardon, giving him a clean slate.

On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. deported Vang, despite receiving a pardon from those officials.

“I carry deep shame and regret for the harm I caused,” Vang wrote in his pardon application.

Vang expressed fear over deportation due to his arrest by ICE in December and a 2006 final order of removal. He feared his return because it “would be sent to a place entirely unfamiliar to me, with no family, no home, and no future.”

The Vang noted his children because they would “grow up without a father, like I did.”

“I will do all that I can to be here and to protect them from the outcomes of my deportation,” Vang added.

From Fox News:

One commissioner, Zach Linstrom, who voted in favor of granting the pardon, wrote in his recommendation, “Very tough case but the kids not having a father is not in the best interest of society,” referring to Vang’s six children. Artika Roller, another commissioner who voted in favor of the pardon, wrote, “The applicant stated the need for clemency related to immigration issues.”

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Commissioner Nadine Graves wrote, “The victim supports this pardon. His [Vang’s] wife stayed and has forgiven. He also [has] immigration concerns. He has remorse and was discharged from probation.”

Graves noted Vang’s early discharge from probation and wrote that “he retracted his prior statement about this being a result of culture. He admits this was wrong then and will always be wrong.”

Lindstrom likewise noted, “applicant’s wife supports” and “victim supports” a pardon.

Commissioner Perry Moriearty wrote, “Despite the extraordinary severity of the underlying offense, there is substantial evidence of rehabilitation, remorse and acceptance of responsibility.” He also noted in his reasons that Vang “is facing deportation” and “victim supports.”

A Minnesota state court convicted Vang “for criminal sexual conduct in the first degree for abuse of a female minor between 2002 and approximately 2005 (when he’d have been about 22).”

The girl was 10-years-old when the abuse started. Vang tried to bribe the girl with $10 to stay quiet about the abuse.

Vang invoked “cultural norms” to excuse his actions.

An immigration judge ordered Vang’s removal on October 31, 2006.

The removal did not happen “because Laos at the time was a ‘recalcitrant‘ country — that is, one that refused to accept returns of its deported nationals from the United States.”

Laos agreed to take some deportees from the U.S. in May 2025.

Authorities arrested Vang during Operation Metro Surge in December.

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