Rubio Revokes Legal Status of Walz-Pardoned Child Predator, Ensuring Deportation

Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week revoked the legal status of Laotian national Tou Lue Vang, a convicted child sex predator pardoned last month by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, paving the way for federal agents to arrest and deport him from the United States.

The move comes just weeks after the Minnesota Board of Pardons — which includes Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — unanimously granted clemency to Vang on June 10, effectively wiping his criminal record and potentially shielding him from longstanding deportation orders.

Vang, who arrived in the U.S. as a child refugee from Laos in 1994, was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and approximately 2005.