Tim Walz offered a baffling response on Tuesday to the Trump administration deporting an illegal migrant convicted of raping a 10-year-old girl who was pardoned by the Minnesota governor last month.
“Did that make us any safer? Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable,” Walz asked – days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that he revoked the legal status of Tou Lue Vang, a 42-year-old from Laos.
“Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day? And I want to be very clear, these are horrific crimes. They often are,” Walz added, according to KTTC.
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday announced the deportation of Vang, a convicted child sex offender who had been pardoned by Walz last month.
In a statement, the White House confirmed Rubio terminated Vang’s legal status and deported him back to Laos.
“Under President Trump, criminal illegal aliens who rape children will be found, arrested, and removed—and Democrat politicians will not stand in the way,” the statement read.
Vang entered the US in 1994 and was granted legal status by the Clinton administration, according to DHS.
In 2006, he was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after he repeatedly assaulted a young girl between 2002 and 2004.
The young girl was just 10-years-old when Vang first assaulted her.
He once offered the young victim $10 in exchange for her silence on the assaults.
Vang justified the assaults as “a cultural thing” when interviewed by police and added that the young victim was just as guilty as him and should be arrested, according to DHS.
Following his conviction, a Department of Justice Immigration Judge ordered a final order of removal for Vang in October 2006.
He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Dec. 10 2025 and a District of Minnesota judge ordered Vang’s release from ICE detention in February 2026.
The convicted child rapist was pardoned by the Minnesota Board of Pardons — which consists of Walz, Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie E. Hudson, and Attorney General Keith Ellison — on June 10.
During the pardon meeting, Vang took responsibility for sexually assaulting the young girl more than two decades ago, KTTC reported.
“What I did was wrong. It was a serious crime. She was a child,” Vang told the board.
“If I am sent away, we lose everything. My children will lose their home, and they will lose their education. They will grow up without a father,” the 42-year-old said.
Vang’s victim — who remains unidentified — wrote in a letter that she had forgiven him for his actions, which started when he was 18 years old.
While addressing the board on his decision to pardon the convicted offender, Walz incorrectly stated that “just remember, both were minors,” the Daily Mail reported.
Following Vang’s deportation by the Trump administration, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis issued a scathing statement about how a convicted sexual predator could be pardoned by Walz and his government.
“ICE deported Tou Vang, an illegal alien convicted child rapist. This monster repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl,” Bis said.
“Tim Walz pardoned this sex criminal in an attempt to allow him to remain in our country.”
“These are the criminal illegal aliens he and sanctuary politicians are protecting. We will always put the safety of the American people first,” she added.
