{"id":37372,"date":"2026-07-12T08:55:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=37372"},"modified":"2026-07-12T08:55:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:55:48","slug":"st-paul-ice-deports-man-after-minnesota-pardon-by-governor-tim-walz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/st-paul-ice-deports-man-after-minnesota-pardon-by-governor-tim-walz\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Paul: ICE Deports Man After Minnesota Pardon by Governor Tim Walz"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

St. Paul: ICE Deports Man After Minnesota Pardon<\/h2>\n

ST. PAUL<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a> \u2014 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Tou Lue Vang to Laos on Friday.<\/p>\n

The removal followed a long immigration case tied to Vang\u2019s 2006 Minnesota conviction. He was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child.<\/p>\n

Records described repeated assaults between 2002 and 2004. The victim was 10 years old when the abuse began.<\/p>\n

Removal Order Remained Active<\/h2>\n

The Department of Homeland Security<\/a> said an immigration judge ordered Vang removed on October 31, 2006.<\/p>\n

Vang entered the United States through California in 1994. Federal officials said he received legal status before his conviction.<\/p>\n

ICE<\/a> arrested Vang on December 10, 2025. A federal judge ordered his release from ICE custody on February 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Board Granted Pardon<\/h2>\n

Minnesota\u2019s Board of Pardons granted Vang a pardon in June. The decision set aside his state conviction.<\/p>\n

Governor Tim Walz serves on the three-member board. State rules require the governor and another member to approve a pardon.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Clemency Review Commission<\/a> reviews applications before the board makes a final decision.<\/p>\n

Independent reporting<\/a> said Vang expressed remorse during the process. The victim also submitted a letter supporting his request.<\/p>\n

The pardon drew criticism from federal officials and Republican lawmakers. They argued it could help Vang challenge deportation.<\/p>\n

Federal Action Followed<\/h2>\n

State pardons and federal immigration orders are separate legal matters. A state pardon does not automatically grant federal immigration status.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials ended Vang\u2019s remaining permission to stay. ICE then carried out the removal to Laos.<\/p>\n

DHS described the deportation as a public safety action. The department linked the case to its wider immigration enforcement campaign.<\/p>\n

Federal officials did not release further details about the deportation flight.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole, reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"St.
St. Paul: ICE Deports Man After Minnesota Pardon by Governor Tim Walz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ICE deported Tou Lue Vang to Laos after Minnesota pardoned his 2006 conviction for sexually assaulting a child, federal officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[346,772,20887,2204,2518,151,818,8301,1686,2785,2786],"class_list":["post-37372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-after","tag-crime","tag-deports","tag-governor","tag-ice","tag-man","tag-minnesota","tag-pardon","tag-paul","tag-tim","tag-walz","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37670,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37372\/revisions\/37670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}