Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday pardoned Jai Vang, a Laotian national convicted in a 1994 armed robbery case, after convening a special clemency review before ICE could deport him in June.
January's ICE arrest under Operation Metro Surge triggered the push: Vang sought clemency to avoid removal, and the state commission unanimously backed a pardon after citing decades without new crimes, family ties and his painting business.
Walz said deporting Vang would not make Minnesota safer and called him a community contributor, though he inaccurately referred to him during the hearing as a "citizen."
The pardon lands amid Walz's broader clash with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, where his earlier comparison of ICE agents to the Gestapo drew a public rebuke from federal officials.
When state pardons clash with federal law, who decides an immigrant's fate?
How does one man's pardon challenge a massive federal operation remaking a community?
After decades of rehabilitation, what defines a person's place: a past crime or present contributions?