Tim Walz Smacked Down, Overruled By Trump Admin After Pardoning Migrant Rapist

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a convicted child rapist pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has now been deported after the Trump administration intervened to prevent the clemency from blocking his removal from the United States.

Rubio told Fox News that he revoked the legal status of Tue Lue Vang, a Laotian national living in the U.S. illegally, clearing the way for the Department of Homeland Security to deport him.

“Just weeks ago, a foreign child rapist was freed to once again endanger America’s children after receiving a pardon from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz,” Rubio said. “Tue Lue Vang admitted to committing heinous crimes against a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota. He attempted to pay his victim for her silence and dismissed his acts of child abuse as a ‘minor thing.'”

“Just days before he was scheduled to be deported, the Minnesota Governor pardoned him, setting him free to endanger American families once again,” Rubio lamented.

According to court records, Vang was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and 2004. After his arrest, authorities said Vang claimed “it is a cultural thing… to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12.”

Rubio said his decision ensured Vang could no longer remain in the country.

“Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children.”

“That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States,” he continued. “Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”

Laotian national Tou Lue Vang was convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota.

He was set to be deported until @GovTimWalz issued him a pardon.

Then, I revoked his legal status. @ICEgov has removed him from the U.S. and he will never endanger another… pic.twitter.com/WCJkeeheJO

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 10, 2026

The pardon was approved June 10 by Minnesota’s Board of Pardons, which consists of Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, after receiving a recommendation from the nine-member Minnesota Clemency Review Commission.

“Being granted a pardon is a notable achievement and a reflection of the work you have done since your conviction,” a commission member wrote in a letter notifying Vang that his clemency request had been approved.

RELATED: Minnesotans Deliver One Final Blow To Tim Walz As Disgraced Governor’s Tenure Winds Down

The decision sparked immediate backlash from DHS, which warned at the time that the pardon could complicate efforts to deport Vang.

“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting.”

The controversy followed another clemency decision by Tim Walz and the pardon board in May, when they pardoned a Laotian national convicted of armed robbery before immigration authorities could deport him.

Defending Vang’s pardon, Walz argued that the convicted sex offender had rebuilt his life following his release from prison and mistakenly described him as a U.S. citizen.

“I can find no reason how Minnesota will be safer or better if Mr. Vang is deported to a country he has not been to since he was a child,” Walz said of the convicted child rapist. “I do not see how it would serve his family, nor the economic interest where we have a taxpaying citizen who is creating job growth and living a life free from any criminal activity.”

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