Federal officials said Friday that Tou Lue Vang, a Laotian national convicted in Minnesota of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl, has been removed from the United States about a month after receiving a pardon from the state’s Democratic governor.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Vang’s departure from the country in a video posted Friday morning on X.
“Just weeks ago, a convicted sex offender and foreign national was shielded from deportation by the governor of Minnesota,” Rubio said in the video.
Rubio identified the man as “Laotian national Tou Lue Vang” and said he had been convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota.
He also said Vang had attempted to pay the victim to remain silent and had referred to his crimes as a “minor thing.”
According to Rubio, Vang had been scheduled for deportation when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued the pardon, a move Rubio criticized as one that allowed Vang to “once again endanger the children of America.”
“Well, 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.
Officials did not immediately clarify whether Vang was sent back to Laos or removed to another location.
Governor Tim Walz sparked outrage on June 10 after pardoning the 42-year-old over the 2005 assault to stop him from being deported.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the removal of a pedophile illegal migrant from the United States on Friday morning
Tou Lue Vang, 42, was deported to Laos weeks after being pardoned by Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz
Walz’s attempt to keep Vang in the country sparked nationwide fury and was branded ‘disgusting’ by Department of Homeland Security spokesman Lauren Bis.
His scheme to save Vang from deportation ultimately backfired by drawing federal attention to the case.
Rubio condemned Walz for what he said was a dereliction of duty to the safety of ordinary Americans.
‘Because of our action, this foreign criminal will never pose a threat to any American ever again,’ he said.
‘Americans must never be forced by their elected leaders to live alongside foreign sex criminals who have no right to begin with to reside in our country.
‘This administration will always stand with the American people and defend them from violent criminals.’
Walz, a failed vice presidential candidate who ran alongside Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, said he had taken into account Vang’s claim that his ‘culture’ allowed for sexual contact between adults and children.
But Rubio said the gravity of Vang’s offenses merited his removal from the United States.
‘He even tried to pay his victim for her silence,’ Rubio added, ‘and called those heinous crimes “minor things.”‘
Vang entered the US illegally in 1994 under the Clinton administration. He was later granted legal status by the Clinton administration.
Tim Walz pardoned Vang in June to stop him from being deported after the predator’s victim sent a letter pleading for him to be forgiven
Vang’s legal status was revoked on his conviction for raping the child in 2006.
He attacked the youngster on repeated occasions between 2002 and 2005 and tried to pay her $10 to keep quiet about what he had done.
He was issued a final removal order the same year, but remained free until July last year.
That was when Trump’s Operation Metro Surge targeted illegal migrants for deportation, including Vang.
Vang applied for his pardon last year.
It was granted by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Walz after they read a letter from his victim pleading for him to be allowed to stay in the US.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin branded the pardon ‘horrific.’
‘This evil alien from Laos repeatedly sexually assaulted a ten-year-old child,’ Mullin wrote on X.
‘These are the illegal alien criminals sanctuary politicians like Tim Walz are protecting over American citizens.’
