Tim Walz pardoned a man convicted of repeatedly r**ing a 10 year old.
Marco Rubio deported that same man to Laos and Walz couldn't stay quiet.
Then Walz asked one question that has Minnesota Republicans demanding answers.
Board Of Pardons Erased A 2006 Rape Conviction
Tou Lue Vang admitted to sexually assaulting a 10 year old girl for two straight years.
He offered her $10 to keep quiet.
He told police it was a "cultural thing."
A judge ordered him removed from the country in 2006.
Laos refused to take him back, so Vang stayed in Minnesota for almost two decades.
Vang applied for a pardon in July 2025, anticipating the deportation he knew was coming.
Federal agents arrested him that December through Operation Metro Surge.
On June 10, Minnesota's Board of Pardons wiped his conviction clean.
That board is Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson.
All three voted yes.
Rubio Revoked Vang's Status And ICE Made The Arrest
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wasn't going to let a state pardon override federal law.
Rubio revoked Vang's legal status and ICE moved in.
Vang was deported to Laos on July 10.
"Just days before this foreign sex offender was scheduled to be deported, Tim Walz, the governor, issued him a pardon, setting him free to once again endanger the children of America," Rubio said.
Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis was just as blunt.
"Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting," Bis said.
Walz stayed silent for days.
Then on Tuesday, he broke that silence with an argument nobody in his own party wanted to touch.
"Did that make us any safer?" Walz said, referring to the deportation.
"Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable?"
"Did it improve the idea that we can't all be judged by our worst day?"
Republicans didn't wait long to respond.
House Majority Whip Pete Stauber said Walz "has the audacity to question whether the Trump administration's decision to deport that child rapist made Minnesota safer."
Homeland Security answered Walz directly on social media.
"For Tou Lue Vang this wasn't just one 'worst day,' it was YEARS of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl starting when she was 10," the agency posted.
Minnesota House Speaker and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth had already condemned the pardon before Walz's comments even aired.
"Under my leadership, nobody who commits horrific abuses against children will be pardoned," Demuth said.
Even Amy Klobuchar, the Democrat running to succeed Walz, wouldn't defend the pardon.
"As a former prosecutor I have not supported pardons for sex offenders and would not have voted for this pardon," Klobuchar said.
That's a Democrat senator breaking from a sitting Democrat governor on a child rape case.
This Wasn't The First Time The Board Pardoned An Illegal Immigrant
Vang's case isn't an isolated slip.
The same Board of Pardons cleared Jai Vang, another Laotian national, just one month earlier.
Jai Vang's record includes robbery, armed robbery of a business, and a DUI.
Two Laotian nationals with serious criminal records, two pardons, one board, back to back.
Minnesota's own Clemency Review Commission didn't hide its enthusiasm over Tou Lue Vang's case either.
"Congratulations!" the commission wrote to Vang in the letter informing him of his pardon.
A man who raped a child for years got a congratulations letter from the state.
Walz has defended the pardon by pointing to a letter from Vang's own victim, who forgave him and personally asked the board to grant clemency.
That's a private act of grace from one woman.
It is not a public safety plan for the state of Minnesota.
Why Walz Picked This Fight After The Deportation Was Already Final
Tim Walz just handed Republicans their cleanest sanctuary state attack ad of the year, and he wrote it himself.
Every governor gets tested by an ugly pardon eventually.
Most governors don't respond to that test by publicly second guessing the deportation of the man they pardoned.
Walz didn't have to say a word about Vang's removal.
Rubio and ICE had already handled it, and the story could have died on its own.
Instead Walz picked that exact fight, on camera, days after the man he pardoned was gone.
That's not a political misstep, that's a worldview showing itself.
Look at the timeline: the same board granted clemency to a rapist and an armed robber back to back, both foreign nationals, both pardoned right as deportation closed in.
That's a pattern, not compassion, and it has already left Minnesota's next governor's race with a Democrat candidate who won't defend Walz's decision.
Lisa Demuth doesn't need to manufacture an attack line here.
Tim Walz built it for her, word for word, on camera, in his own voice.
Sources:
- Michael Sinkewicz, "Tim Walz offers strange defense for pardoning convicted child rapist Trump administration deported," Fox News, July 15, 2026.
- Louis Casiano, "Walz, Minnesota Board of Pardons clears convicted illegal alien child sex offender facing deportation," Fox News, July 2026.
- Staff, "Deported: DHS Removes Convicted Child Rapist Pardoned by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz," Department of Homeland Security, July 10, 2026.
- Staff, "Minnesota Democrats Pardoned a Convicted Child Rapist. President Trump Deported Him.," The White House, July 2026.
- Elyse Apel, "ICE deports criminal illegal immigrant despite Minnesota pardon," The Center Square, July 2026.
- Staff, "Minnesota Republicans condemn Walz, Ellison pardon of convicted child sex offender," AlphaNews, July 2026.
- Staff, "Trump admin deports criminal migrant pardoned by Tim Walz," The Washington Times, July 10, 2026.
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