ICE Deports Pardoned Child Rapist 20 Years After Removal Order

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported a man who was convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child and ordered removed from the country in 2006. The individual, Tou Lue Vang, was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl over the course of two years.

Source: cdnph.upi.com

Vang was ordered to be deported to Laos in October 2006, but due to that country’s limits on how many deportees it accepts, he was permitted to stay, along with many ethnic Laotians and Hmong, as reported by The New York Times. Having been in the country legally ever since, Vang applied for a pardon during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown last year to prevent himself from being deported, which was granted in June.

Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary of homeland security, stated in a press release, ‘ICE deported Tou Vang, an illegal alien convicted child rapist.’ Bis added, ‘This monster repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl.’

Vang was convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting the girl between 2002 and 2004, and justified his actions as being ‘a cultural thing … to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12,’ and also suggested that the girl was just as guilty as he was of a crime, ICE said last week.

The Times reported that Vang has not been charged with serious crimes since his conviction and supervised release while awaiting his 2006 deportation. ICE arrested Vang in December 2025, with plans to deport him, based on his prior conviction, but a Minnesota judge ordered that he be released from custody in February 2026.

Vang’s pardon request, which the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission granted on June 10, could prevent him from being deported, the federal government and legal experts have said.

The State Department said Friday that it had terminated Vang’s legal status in the United States and deported him immediately. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in a statement, ‘Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children.’

Rubio added, ‘That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States. Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.’

This development comes as part of a broader context of immigration and deportation policies in the United States. The case of Tou Lue Vang raises questions about the effectiveness of these policies and the protection of American citizens.

Here are some key points about the case of Tou Lue Vang:

• Vang was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl over the course of two years.
• He was ordered to be deported to Laos in October 2006 but was permitted to stay due to the country’s limits on deportees.
• Vang applied for a pardon during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown last year to prevent himself from being deported, which was granted in June.
• ICE arrested Vang in December 2025, with plans to deport him, based on his prior conviction, but a Minnesota judge ordered that he be released from custody in February 2026.
• The State Department terminated Vang’s legal status in the United States and deported him immediately.