A Minnesota pardon board appointed under Gov. Tim Walz gave a full pardon to a repeat child rapist specifically to shield him from deportation — proving that the open-borders crowd will sacrifice children to protect illegal immigrants from the consequences of their crimes.
Laotian national Tue Lue Vang, 42, admitted to repeatedly raping a girl over a multi-year period beginning when she was 10 years old. He was set to be deported. Instead, the Minnesota Board of Pardons — Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — awarded him a full pardon on June 10, giving him a clean slate.
The vote that set this in motion came from the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission, which recommended the pardon four to two. Fox News Digital reviewed the documents. Every commissioner who voted for the pardon cited the rapist's immigration status as their reason. Every one.
Commissioner Zach Linstrom wrote: "Very tough case but the kids not having a father is not in the best interest of society" — referring to Vang's six children, not the child he raped. Commissioner Artika Roller wrote: "The applicant stated the need for clemency related to immigration issues." The two other commissioners in the majority have not been named in public reporting. The two who voted against it noted the seriousness of the offenses.
The victim's own words, recorded in the documents, state she "did not understand what Vang was doing, so she let him." Vang offered her $10 to stay quiet. Her friends testified she was "angry and sad" about the abuse. The first rape occurred when she was in fourth grade.
Ramsey County Assistant Attorney Tami McConkey formally opposed the pardon, noting her office had already given Vang a dispositional departure because the then-12-year-old victim faced pressure from her family not to cooperate with law enforcement. Vang was sentenced to 12 years. That sentence was stayed. He served eight months at a county workhouse. He was discharged from probation early in 2019. And then the state wiped his record clean — not because he deserved mercy, but because deporting him would be inconvenient.
Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called it straight: "Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting."
Vang entered the U.S. through California in 1994 and received legal status under the Clinton administration. That status should have been revoked the moment he was convicted. Instead, a bipartisan infrastructure — the commission, the board, the judges, the attorneys general — closed ranks around his right to stay.
The New York Post, for its part, ran nothing on the pardon. Its Walz coverage the same day focused on his mobilization of the National Guard for wildfires — a story about Walz the steady leader, not Walz the man whose board freed a child rapist.
The question isn't whether Vang deserved mercy. The question is who this government serves. Four commissioners looked at a man who raped a child for years and saw a deportation problem. Three top officials signed the pardon. And the press that should have told you about it looked the other way.
Who are the other two commissioners who voted to protect this man? The public still doesn't know.
