Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 1

Minnesota Pardons 42-Year-Old Child Sex Offender, Blocking 2006 Deportation Order

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 1

Minnesota Pardons 42-Year-Old Child Sex Offender, Blocking 2006 Deportation Order

Q: When a state pardon clashes with federal law, who decides if an immigrant gets to stay?

Federal authorities ultimately decide whether an immigrant can stay, even after a state pardon. A state board or governor can pardon a state crime, and that can matter a great deal. In Minnesota, a pardon is meant to set aside the conviction and clear the state criminal record. That may give someone like Tou Lue Vang a stronger argument against removal because it can undercut the state conviction that triggered deportation proceedings. But immigration is governed by federal law, not state law. The Department of Homeland Security, immigration judges, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and ultimately the federal courts decide whether a person is removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act. If federal law still treats the case as a deportable conviction, a state pardon does not automatically stop deportation. That is the key legal tension in cases like Vang’s. Federal immigration law often uses its own definition of “conviction,” including guilty pleas, and it does not always give full effect to state expungements or record-clearing measures. Some deportation grounds can be waived by a full pardon, but not all, especially where federal law classifies the offense as an aggravated felony or a crime involving abuse of a minor. So a state pardon can help, sometimes decisively, but it is not the final word. The final word belongs to the federal immigration system, subject to review in the federal courts.

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 1

Minnesota’s Board of Pardons granted Tou Lue Vang a pardon at its June 10 meeting, wiping the record of the Laotian national and helping halt his removal from the U.S.
Vang, 42, lost legal status after pleading guilty in 2006 to first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 10-year-old girl he repeatedly abused between 2002 and 2006, according to DHS.
The pardon followed an April recommendation from the nine-member Clemency Review Commission, where four members backed Vang, two opposed and three were absent; his application cited rehabilitation and acceptance of responsibility.
Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson sit on the pardons board, drawing fresh Trump administration criticism that Minnesota’s sanctuary policies shield criminal immigrants from federal enforcement.
The case adds to scrutiny of Minnesota clemency decisions involving undocumented immigrants after federal authorities detained Vang last year and the state separately pardoned another Laotian citizen with robbery convictions in May.