A Laotian man pardoned by state officialsin Minnesota last month has been deported from the country, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has announced.
Tou Lue Vang, an immigrant from Laos, faced deportation for a 2006 conviction of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after raping a young girl between 2002 and 2004. Because Laos initially refused to accept deportees, Vang spent nearly two decades living in Minnesota.
In December 2025, federal authorities detained him during a massive immigration crackdown, and a federal judge later ordered his release from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in February 2026.
In June, Vang was pardoned by the Minnesota board of pardons after he expressed remorse for his actions and a letter from his victim said she forgave him, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
In a letter obtained by the Star Tribune, the victim explained that she had “made my peace” and forgiven Vang. “He is not the same person now. I have seen how he has changed,” the letter reads.
But the Trump administration has used the case to accuse Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, and other state Democratic officials of protecting immigrants from deportation.
“This week I revoked his legal status in the United States and, as a result, federal agents took him into custody and, as of today, he has been removed from the United States,” Rubio said, referring to Vang, in a video statement posted on Friday. “Because of our action, this foreign criminal will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”
Walz’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, the deputy assistant homeland security secretary for media relations, Lauren Bis, issued a statement calling the decision to pardon Vang “disgusting”.
Other Republican lawmakers, including the US House of Representatives majority whip, Tom Emmer, also said they were angered by the ruling.
“I’m angry and disgusted at yet another action by our feckless governor that puts violent illegal aliens ahead of innocent Americans,” Emmer wrote in a post on X.
The Department of Homeland Security said Vang first came to the US in 1994 and was granted legal status, but his status was revoked after his conviction and a final order of removal was issued in 2006.
