Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has called a special session of the state Board of Pardons for one reason and one reason only — to pardon a convicted armed robber before federal agents can deport him. Not a natural disaster. Not a budget crisis. A pardon sprint to beat ICE to the finish line.
Because nothing says "I serve the people of Minnesota" like burning taxpayer time to shield a foreign national who robbed Minnesotans at gunpoint. Priorities!
The beneficiary of Walz's heroic intervention is Jai Vang, a Laotian national who was convicted of armed robbery in Hennepin County back in October 1994 when he was 18 years old. Vang was taken into ICE custody on May 14, 2026, as part of Operation Metro Surge — the federal DHS enforcement operation targeting criminal illegal aliens in Minneapolis. He was scheduled for deportation back to Laos in June 2026.
But Tim Walz — the same guy who couldn't keep straight which wars he served in — decided that was unacceptable. According to Fox 9, which reported the story on May 27, Walz argued he "could not see how Minnesota would be safer or better if Vang were removed from the country." Let that sink in. A governor publicly declaring that deporting a convicted armed robber doesn't make his state safer.
The Minnesota Board of Pardons is a three-member body consisting of the governor, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson. So Walz needs at least one of those two to go along with his little obstruction play. Given that Keith Ellison once thought wearing an Antifa t-shirt was cute, we can probably guess how that vote's going.
Walz's defenders will point out that Vang served his sentence, started a family, and ran a painting and carpentry business with no new crimes since the conviction. Fine. That's a conversation reasonable people can have through normal channels. What's not normal is a governor calling an emergency session specifically to race the clock against federal immigration enforcement. That's not mercy — that's obstruction with a press release.
As Elliott Engen put it on X, "Pardoning an illegal immigrant armed robber who victimizes Minnesotans to own Trump. An absolute clown."
Hard to argue with that assessment. This is what happens when a governor decides his real constituency isn't the people of Minnesota — it's the resistance. Every minute Walz spends engineering pardons to undermine ICE is a minute he's not spending on the actual problems plaguing Minneapolis.
But hey, at least his base will love it. And when you're Tim Walz, that's apparently all that matters. The rest of Minnesota can fend for itself.
As reported by 100 Percent Fed Up, this special session is imminent. So if you're keeping score at home: emergencies that warrant a special session in Tim Walz's Minnesota now include armed robbers facing deportation. Tornadoes, flooding, and crime waves? Those can wait.