Minnesota Governor Tim Walz just pardoned an illegal alien convicted of armed robbery, and the reason wasn't innocence, rehabilitation, or any miscarriage of justice — it was to stop ICE from putting the guy on a plane back to Laos. That's it. That's the whole reason. A sitting governor deployed his pardon power as a deportation shield for a convicted violent criminal.
Because nothing says "justice" like forgiving a crime so the criminal can dodge the consequences of a completely different law he's also breaking.
Here's the story. Jai Vang, an illegal alien from Laos, was convicted of aiding and abetting armed robbery in Hennepin County back in 1994. He was 18 at the time. He served his prison sentence and was released back into the United States — not back to Laos, where he's actually a citizen. He's been here illegally ever since.
Fast forward to January 2026. ICE arrests Vang as part of Operation Metro Surge in the Minneapolis area. Deportation to Laos was scheduled for June. Vang requested clemency. And what did good ol' Governor Walz do? He called a special session of Minnesota's Board of Pardons' Clemency Review Commission — featuring himself, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — and they voted unanimously to pardon Vang.
Unanimously. Three-nothing. To pardon an armed robber so the feds couldn't deport him.
Walz's reasoning? The governor stated, "I can find no reason how Minnesota will be safer or better if Mr. Vang is deported to a country he has not been to since he was a child." He even called Vang a "critical member of the community." Walz reportedly referred to Vang as a "citizen," which is interesting given that the entire reason for the pardon was that Vang is definitively not one.
This is the same Tim Walz who compared ICE agents conducting lawful operations to the "modern-day Gestapo." Let that marinate. The governor of a U.S. state compared federal law enforcement officers to Nazis — for enforcing immigration law.
Then-Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons fired back: "If the governor doesn't like the laws, he's free to advocate that Congress change them, but he should refrain from putting ICE officers in danger by likening them to one of the most appalling groups in history." Lyons is right. You don't get to call cops Nazis and then pretend you're the moral authority in the room.
Let's be clear about what happened here. Walz didn't pardon Vang because he believed the 1994 armed robbery conviction was unjust. He didn't pardon him because new evidence emerged. He pardoned a violent crime specifically so the consequences of a separate ongoing legal violation — being in this country illegally — couldn't be enforced. That's not clemency. That's obstruction wearing a governor's seal.
The Commission's rationale was that Vang hadn't committed further crimes since his release, had started a family, and owns a local painting business. Good for him. Truly. But since when does "hasn't robbed anyone lately" qualify you for a gubernatorial pardon? Half the country hasn't committed armed robbery. Where's our ceremony?
And here's the legal kicker that makes the whole stunt even more absurd: federal immigration authorities aren't bound by state pardons. The pardon doesn't actually prevent deportation for illegal alien status. So Walz burned political capital, made a national spectacle of himself, and handed a violent criminal a get-out-of-accountability card — and ICE can still deport the guy anyway.
Tim Walz: the man who'll pardon your armed robbery but compare the cops to Hitler. Minnesota, you must be so proud.