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Minnesota’s political leadership has crossed a line that should alarm every parent and taxpayer when Gov. Tim Walz and the state’s Board of Pardons wiped the slate clean for Tou Lue Vang at their June 10 meeting. Vang’s pardon came from a board that includes Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, and it was granted despite Vang’s long-ago convictions for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old — a decision that reads like a betrayal of common-sense justice.
The facts are stark and disturbing: Vang pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly abusing a child between 2002 and 2006, and court records show the abuse was ongoing and exploitative. That history is not erased by political theater, and the pardon will make it far harder for federal authorities to follow through on a removal order that was already in place.
Federal officials reacted exactly as they should have — with outrage — because this pardon effectively undermines immigration enforcement and protects someone convicted of a monstrous crime. The Department of Homeland Security warned that the timing of the pardon, issued a week before a scheduled deportation, could thwart his removal and has publicly blasted Minnesota’s decision.
Make no mistake: this was not an act of mercy so much as a political calculation that places open-borders ideology above victims and public safety. Vang’s guilty plea spared him prison time at the time, but his conviction still stripped him of legal status and produced a final order of removal — until state officials stepped in to block the consequences.
Hardworking Americans understand the difference between rehabilitation and enabling. Pardons exist to correct clear miscarriages of justice or to recognize long, demonstrable reform; they are not supposed to be used as shields for violent offenders to dodge federal removal and return to our communities.
Governor Walz and his allies owe the victim, and every Minnesotan who values law and order, an explanation and accountability. If our institutions cannot be trusted to defend children and uphold borders, voters must demand better and elect leaders who put safety and justice ahead of political posture.
