The Minnesota Board of Pardons convened an unscheduled emergency meeting on Monday, granting clemency to At "Ricky" Xayasounethone Chandee, a Legal Permanent Resident from Laos who was facing imminent deportation by federal authorities. The unanimous decision by the state board, which includes Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, has drawn sharp condemnation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which labeled the action as "absolute INSANITY" and a direct interference with federal removal authority.
Chandee, who entered the United States as a minor, has a criminal record spanning nearly two decades. In 1992, he was convicted of three assault charges. This led to a federal immigration judge issuing a final order of removal against him three years later, in 1995. This order remained dormant for decades before being reactivated this spring. His criminal record further expanded in 2008 when prosecutors secured two convictions against him for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to DHS.
In January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Chandee into custody as part of "Operation Metro Surge," a regional enforcement campaign. He was subsequently transferred to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, and federal officials established a removal date. As that date approached, the Minnesota Board of Pardons, which had previously scheduled a June vote on Chandee’s clemency request, moved its deliberation forward to Monday.
The six members of the board present for the vote—Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson among them—unanimously voted in favor of clemency. Chandee was not physically present at the session, but his family and colleagues appeared before the board to advocate on his behalf. His son, Alex, addressed the panel directly, stating, "My dad wanted me to live the life he never had, and I believe my father has done very well in that."
Following the vote, Justice Hudson commented on the board's rationale. According to MPR News, she stated, "There is nothing in this application, or nothing in the facts before us that would suggest that Mr. Chandee is a danger to the public in any way, shape or form." She further emphasized Chandee's "lot of family support, which is obviously very important, and he’s had that support over the last 29 years."
Concurrently, Chandee's attorney, Linus Chan, filed a parallel legal challenge. A federal appeals court in Louisiana subsequently granted the appeal, temporarily freezing the deportation order for 14 days. Chan publicly acknowledged the expectation that the President Trump administration would challenge this ruling.
The Department of Homeland Security's response was swift and unequivocal. The agency issued a press release, explicitly stating its view that the Minnesota board's action directly interfered with federal removal authority. Lauren Bis, Acting Assistant Secretary for DHS, did not temper her criticism. "The Minnesota Board of Pardons’ unanimous decision pardoning an illegal alien convicted of three violent assaults is absolute INSANITY," Bis declared.
Bis further elaborated on the federal perspective, noting, "At Chandee lost his green card following his convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon. Following his criminal conviction, he was placed in removal proceedings and issued a final order of removal by a judge. Minnesota’s sanctuary politicians’ pardon took away this violent thug’s qualifying convictions that made him removable from the US." DHS also included a broader statement regarding immigration status, asserting, "When you break our laws, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country."
Monday's session was not an isolated incident for the Minnesota Board of Pardons. The board has been actively reviewing a broader caseload of pardon requests from immigrants who are facing deportation proceedings. Out of five such cases reviewed, the board recommended clemency in four. The single case where the board declined to act involved an individual with a kidnapping conviction. This ongoing trend highlights the growing tension between state-level clemency powers and federal immigration enforcement policies. The clash underscores fundamental disagreements about rehabilitation, public safety, and the limits of state authority in matters traditionally governed by federal law.
