“Secretary Marco Rubio and the Trump administration did what Tim Walz, Keith Ellison and Amy Klobuchar would not: they put the safety of American children first.

Tou Lue Vang was convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. Yet Walz and Ellison voted to pardon him, removing the conviction underlying his deportation proceedings. Secretary Rubio revoked Vang’s legal status, and federal authorities have now removed him from the United States. (New York Post)

When Amy Klobuchar was asked whether she agreed with the pardon, she offered a calculated Washington dodge: she wanted to ‘look at the entire record’ while saying she had not supported pardons for sex offenders. The entire record was already clear—a child was repeatedly sexually abused, prosecutors opposed the pardon, and Tim Walz approved it anyway. (Star Tribune)

Minnesotans do not need a governor who waffles when a child predator receives clemency. They need a governor with the judgment and courage to say, without qualification, that pardoning him was wrong.

This case exposes the real contrast. Republicans acted to remove a dangerous foreign criminal. Walz and Ellison tried to erase his conviction, and Klobuchar still cannot bring herself to clearly condemn them.

Amy Klobuchar wants voters to believe she represents moderation. But when her party’s leaders put a convicted child sex offender ahead of public safety, she retreats into carefully scripted ambiguity. That is not moderation. It is political cowardice.”

- Statement from Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Alex Plechash