Someone really needs to sit Minnesota Governor Tim Walz down and have a long talk with him about things like the Supremacy Clause, immigration law, and state vs. federal law enforcement.
In his latest bit of defiance of the United States' immigration laws, Governor Walz has pardoned an illegal alien who was convicted of armed robbery and released after serving his term, only to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) scoop him up during Operation Metro Surge.
Minnesota's Democratic governor on Wednesday pardoned an illegal alien previously convicted of armed robbery before he could be deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Jai Vang, an illegal alien from Laos, was convicted of aiding and abetting and armed robbery in Hennepin County in 1994, according to FOX 9. The incident occurred when he was 18 years old.
He served his prison term, and was released back into the United States.
That was where the fun began.
He was arrested by ICE as part of Operation Metro Surge in the Minneapolis area in January, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release from the time.
When Gov. Tim Walz learned of Vang's arrest by the federal government, and that Vang had requested clemency to avoid being deported in June, the governor called a special session of the state's Board of Pardons' Clemency Review Commission to ensure the case was reviewed before Vang's deportation could be completed.
The Clemency Review Commission, which was joined by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and state supreme court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, voted unanimously to pardon Vang.
Yeah, that doesn't mean he can't still be deported. ICE and other federal immigration authorities aren't bound by that pardon; Walz can't pardon Vang for being an illegal alien.
It could complicate things, though. Vang reportedly has a family in Minnesota now, although their immigration status is uncertain, and he has not been accused or arrested for any crime since his release from prison. That could, in some circumstances, at least raise the bar for his deportation.
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That still doesn't mean he's home free, either. He's still in the United States illegally.
The best answer for Jai Vang, assuming it's still open to him, would be to take the federal government's self-deportation deal, go back to Laos, and apply to return legally. That would regularize his presence in the United States. But one way or another, no matter how long he's been here, no matter how good a guy he's been since his release from prison, he needs to go back. Here's why, and I'm going to tell you:
If Tim Walz gets away with this, if ICE and, by extension, the Trump administration lets this slide, then every blue-state governor will be issuing pardons like madmen to every illegal alien they can find, and then they'll go find more and pardon them, too. This isn't a tactic that we can allow. Immigration and border enforcement are federal policies, justly so, and must only be handled at that level.
Remember, we're talking about this Tim Walz:
Walz bitterly fought the federal government during Operation Metro Surge, echoing far-left rhetoric that compared ICE agents to Nazis. He referred to agents as President Donald Trump's "modern-day Gestapo," which drew a sharp rebuke from then-Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.
Lyons implored Walz to tone down the rhetoric, saying, "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."
Give him an inch, and he'll take a light-year. That can't happen.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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