Walz Pardoned a to Stop His Deportation, But Marco Rubio Deported Him Anyway

the time, so he remained in America, supervised, for twenty years.

When the Trump administration changed that equation — securing cooperation from Laos and beginning deportations — Vang was detained in December. Justice, finally, after two decades of waiting. He was about to face the consequences that should have come long ago.

Then Tim Walz intervened.

The Minnesota Board of Pardons — a three-person panel that includes the governor — granted Vang a full pardon in June. The pardon was based in part on a letter from his victim forgiving him. That letter is her right to write. It doesn’t change what he did. It doesn’t restore the childhood he took from her. And it absolutely does not obligate the United States government to allow a convicted child sex offender with no legal right to remain in this country to stay here indefinitely.