Read The Insane Argument Officials Made Against Deporting Child Rapist Pardoned By Tim Walz

Minnesota officials recommended a pardon for a child rapist in a failed attempt to shield him from deportation, according to state documents. 

The Minnesota Clemency Review Commission voted 4-2 to recommend a pardon for 42-year-old Laotian national Tou Lue Vang, who was convicted for repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl beginning when she was just 10 years old. Despite its recommendation and a pardon from Governor Tim Walz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that Vang had been deported. 

Members of the commission claimed Vang had been rehabilitated and pointed to the possibility he would be deported when pushing for a pardon, according to documents reviewed by Fox News. Beginning in 2002, Vang repeatedly had sexual intercourse with a young girl over a two year period starting when he was 18 and she was 10. 

“Despite the extraordinary severity of the underlying offense, there is substantial evidence of rehabilitation, remorse and acceptance of responsibility,” claimed clemency commissioner and University of Minnesota law professor Perry Moriearty. Moriearty added that Vang “is facing deportation” and said that the “victim supports” the pardon, the documents viewed by Fox News show. 

The Daily Wire reached out to the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission for comment.

When arrested, he claimed it was part of his culture and said the victim should be charged as well. “I made a mistake, but this is a minor thing. It is a cultural thing in Thailand to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12,” he reportedly told police. 

For the crime, Vang spent just eight months at the Ramsey County, Minnesota, Correctional Workhouse and was given 30 years of supervised probation. The family of the victim pressured her to refuse to cooperate with law enforcement, according to prosecutors.

Other members of the commission noted that Vang noted his fears of deportation and that he now has a large family. 

“The applicant stated the need for clemency related to immigration issues,” said commissioner Artika Roller, the executive director of Cornerstone, a group that purports to support victims of sexual violence. Roller supported the pardon. 

The Daily Wire also reached out to Cornerstone for comment. 

“Very tough case but the kids not having a father is not in the best interest of society,” said commission member and Mounds View Mayor Zach Lindstrom.

“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,” wrote commissioner Nadine Graves. “He retracted his prior statement about this being a result of culture. He admits this was wrong then and will always be wrong.”

Tami McConkey, director of the Victim Witness & Postconviction Justice Division in Ramsey County, urged the commission to not recommend a pardon. 

“While Mr. Vang expresses shame and regret about what his children experience when then [sic] learn of the offense, he does not share any thoughts or insight about what the victim must have gone through,” she said. 

Walz, Democrat Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson ultimately accepted the recommendation and pardoned Vang.

Vang first came to the United States in 1994 and was given legal status by the Clinton administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security. An immigration judge issued Vang a final deportation order on October 31, 2006, following his conviction.

“Americans must never be forced by their elected leaders to live alongside foreign sex criminals who have no right to begin with to reside in our country,” Rubio said Friday when he announced Vang’s deportation. “This administration will always stand with the American people and defend them from violent criminals.”