The panel’s two brilliant excuses for this ludicrous pardon were 1) Trump has issued stupid pardons too, and no, I’m not kidding and 2) the victim forgave her rapist. Walz’s office pointed to the letter the victim provided the board, and said such pleas for clemency carry significant weight. “What happened to me was wrong, but I have had many years to think about this. I have made my peace with it. I forgive him,” the victim wrote. “I want his family to stay together here. His children need their father. He and his wife have built a life. I believe that he has learned and grown since the abuse and that the family has suffered enough.”
Just because she was a rape victim doesn’t mean she isn’t a moron. His children need a child abusing father, do they?
Experts in the field will explain how long-time victims of scum like Vang often develop attachments to them despite the abuse, but even if that were not true, a victim of a heinous crime shouldn’t have the power to decree that the public should be at risk of similar conduct because she’s in a forgiving mood. This incident is evidence of a sick culture in Minnesota, as well as a progressive community that has lost its legal, moral and ethical compass.
“Democratic governors have long faced scrutiny for pardoning immigrants with criminal records who have served their sentences, in an effort to slow or halt their deportations,” the Times informs us. So it isn’t bad enough that the Left wants to give violators of our immigration laws a free pass if they don’t rape, kill or steal: its officials want to let criminal illegal immigrants stay here too.
In the meantime, some of the Axis media has defaulted once again to a “Republicans pounce” framing. CBS, which supposedly is trying to be more objective, gave us this stinker of a headline: “Feds attack Minnesota over victim-backed pardon for man set to be deported.” Isn’t that a terrific headline? It emphasizes the irrelevant fact that the addled victim wants child-rapists to roam free and notes that he was about to be deported (by those mean ICE Gestapo agents) but leaves out the fact that he sexually molested a 10, 11, 12 and 13 tear-old girl. Oh, details, details…
I don’t even want to write or think about this disgusting case any more, except to remind everyone that Tim Walz was chosen to be a heartbeat from the Presidency by Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party,
He is a walking, talking, breathing insult to the memories of the Minnesotans discussed in this post, as well as to the Founders, the legacies of Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy and Jesse Ventura, sane Minnesota citizens, the Minnesota Viking, Twins and Timberwolves, and the Land ‘O Lakes Butter girl.
Ethics Alarms 
I guess we’ll just have to trust that the “forgiveness” letter was not prepared under coercion.
So, it’ been 20 years since his guilty plea? Does he have grandchildren? I hope they are well.
I don’t care whether it was or not: it shouldn’t have carried any weight at all. The “client” is the public, not the victim. Justice should be irrelevant to what the victim wants or how the victim feels. The bottom line is that this guy spent four years abusing a little girl and had no punishment at all, and the US is stuck with another bad import….and whatever junk his gene pool inflicts on us.
I wonder why, procedurally, the pardon voids the order of removal. The guy may have been pardoned by the state, but he’s still a convicted felon. Why should a state pardon automatically reinstate his prior immigration status? If he was a convicted felon in Vietnam and had served his time, would he have been allowed in? I hope not. Just another way, among so many, that this case is so wrong.
Having been pardoned by the state, the conviction is null and void.
But it’s a fact.
I think Chris makes my point better below, Michael.
In the same sense the Lovings’ conviction was a fact.
Just how much weight does this pardon carry with immigration officials? None as far as I can tell. It was the Bush administration that issued the final deportation order so ICE can just carry it out. We are always reminded that Trump’s pardons don’t protect others from state charges.
This pardon just brings this guy’s case into the limelight and I am sure Tom Holman will sure to issue and order to pick him up.
Vang should use what time he has left on this mortal coil to find a shovel, dig a hole, bury himself in it, and pray that an asteroid the size of Texas falls on him and obliterates him to dust. Even criminal elements – especially criminal elements – loathe child molesters and they have few qualms with meting out misplaced justice. I envision a rather unpleasant termination of his existence on this planet.