Rubio Deports 42-Year-Old Child Rapist to Laos After Walz Board Granted Pardon

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 13

Marco Rubio said he terminated Tue Lue Vang’s legal status and removed him to Laos, overriding the effect of a June 10 Minnesota pardon that had cleared his record as he faced deportation.
Vang, 42, had been convicted of repeatedly raping a girl from about age 10 in St. Paul between 2002 and 2004; he received a stayed 12-year sentence, served eight months locally and was discharged from probation in 2019.
A 4-2 Minnesota Clemency Review Commission vote recommended the pardon largely over immigration concerns, with several members citing deportation risk, his six children and support from the victim and his wife.
Ramsey County prosecutors opposed clemency, citing the offense’s severity, repeated abuse over years and Vang’s remarks after arrest that sex with girls as young as 12 was a cultural matter and that the victim shared blame.
The case has become a flashpoint over whether state pardons should shield noncitizens from removal, with Rubio arguing elected officials had protected a foreign sex predator from deportation.