Minnesota's Democratic Governor, AG, and Chief Justice Gave an Emergency Pardon to Block ICE. Then DHS Was Caught Making Up Crimes.
On the morning of May 4, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement was twenty-four hours away from deporting At “Ricky” Chandee, a 52-year-old Laotian refugee who had lived in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota for five decades, worked thirty years as an engineer for the City of Minneapolis, and carried a 1992 felony assault conviction that produced a 1995 final order of deportation. Instead of deporting him, the federal government watched as Minnesota's three-member Board of Pardons — Gov. Tim Walz (D), AG Keith Ellison (D), and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson— convened an emergency session and voted unanimously to grant Chandee a full and unconditional pardon.
Chandee came to the United States as a one-year-old child during the Laotian refugee crisis. His son serves in the U.S. Air Force. He pleaded guilty in 1992 to second-degree assault after an altercation at a Windom, Minnesota county fair in which he and a friend shot two 18-year-olds in the legs. He was sentenced to three years in prison and earned an engineering certificate while incarcerated. From 1995 to 2026— thirty years — he lived in Minnesota under an order of supervision with no further criminal record. ICE arrested him during Operation Metro Surge in January 2026 and transferred him to a Texas ICE detention facility.
The pardon made national news immediately. The Department of Homeland Security responded with a press release branding the decision “Minnesota Madness” and accusing Chandee of three violent assaults, including a 2008 conviction on two felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon. WCCO (CBS Minnesota) checked the court records. No 2008 conviction exists. DHS quietly deleted the language from its press release without explanation. When WCCO asked for clarification, DHS responded only by sending a link to the edited document.
- 1dayuntil scheduled deportation when the emergency Board of Pardons meeting was called — MPR News, May 4, 2026
- 30yearsChandee's reported law-abiding residence in Minnesota after his 1995 final deportation order — MPR News
- 0verified 2008 convictionsDHS retracted its claim after WCCO checked Hennepin County court records — CBS Minnesota, May 2026
- January 2026DOJ subpoenasGov. Walz, AG Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Frey, and St. Paul Mayor Her subpoenaed in immigration obstruction probe — CBS News
Full name: At Xayasounethone Chandee, age approximately 52. Born in Laos; came to the United States as a one-year-old during the post-Vietnam War Laotian refugee exodus. He has lived in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota for virtually his entire life. He worked for approximately thirty years as an engineer for the City of Minneapolis. He is married. His son serves in the U.S. Air Force.
In 1992, Chandee and a friend attended a county fair in Windom, Minnesota. An altercation escalated. Chandee shot two 18-year-olds in the legs. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault — a felony. He was sentenced to three years in prison and earned an engineering certificate while incarcerated. In 1995, an immigration judge entered a final order of deportation based on the felony conviction; Chandee lost his permanent resident status. He was not physically deported. For the next thirty years, he remained in Minnesota under an order of supervision— a supervised release arrangement under which ICE checked in periodically but did not remove him. He had no additional criminal record in those three decades.
In January 2026, ICE arrested Chandee during Operation Metro Surge, a broad enforcement sweep across the Twin Cities metro area. He was placed in ICE custody and transferred to a detention facility in Texas. His deportation was scheduled for May 5, 2026.
On May 4, 2026— one day before Chandee's scheduled deportation — the Minnesota Board of Pardons convened an emergency meeting. Under Minnesota law, the three-member board consists of the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. All three attended and voted.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN)— Chaired the emergency session. 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee. DOJ subpoenaed his office in January 2026 in an immigration obstruction investigation.
AG Keith Ellison (D-MN)— Former U.S. Representative and DNC Deputy Chair. DOJ subpoenaed his office in the same January 2026 investigation.
Chief Justice Natalie Hudson— Minnesota Supreme Court. DFL-aligned. The third mandatory member of the Board of Pardons under state law.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D)— Not a Board of Pardons member, but separately subpoenaed by DOJ in the same January 2026 immigration obstruction investigation.
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her (D)— Also separately subpoenaed by DOJ in the same January 2026 immigration obstruction investigation.
Vote: Unanimous. All three Board members granted the pardon.
“The federal government says they're targeting the 'worst of the worst,' but instead they're tearing a father and public servant away from his family over a mistake from more than 30 years ago.”
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) · Board of Pardons emergency meeting · May 4, 2026
I just chaired an emergency meeting of the Board of Pardons to grant a unanimous pardon to At 'Ricky' Chandee — a Minnesota father and longtime public servant facing deportation for a single conviction from over 30 years ago.
Under federal immigration law, a full and unconditional gubernatorial pardon can eliminate the criminal grounds for deportability under Immigration and Nationality Act § 237(a)(2)(A)(vi). This provision, sometimes called the “federalism exception,” was written into the INA by Congress in deference to state sovereignty: the theory is that a full pardon restores the convicted person to a pre-offense legal posture for purposes of immigration consequences.
The pardon does not automatically terminate Chandee's 1995 final order of deportation. To dissolve that order, Chandee must successfully move to reopen his immigration proceedings in immigration court. The government will contest the motion. The outcome turns on whether an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals accept that the pardon retroactively eliminates the deportability ground on which the 1995 order was entered.
What INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(vi) says:A non-citizen convicted of certain crimes (including aggravated felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude) is deportable —unlessthe conviction has been “full and unconditionally pardoned.”
What that means in practice:A governor's pardon can strip the immigration basis for removal even when the federal government is actively trying to deport the person. Congress wrote this exception deliberately.
What it does NOT do: It does not vacate a final order of deportation that has already been entered. Chandee still needs an immigration court to reopen his case and accept the pardon as grounds to terminate the 1995 order.
Eighth Circuit status (May 4, 2026): A federal appellate judge issued a two-week deportation stay. The government had until May 28, 2026 to respond to a motion to dismiss the appeal.
The Center for Immigration Studies notes that other Minnesota immigrants facing deportation are now actively pursuing pardons as a legal strategy in response to the Chandee outcome. MPR News has reported multiple pending pardon requests on similar grounds. The Chandee case has effectively advertised the loophole to every immigration attorney in the state.
On May 6, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security published a press release headlined “Minnesota Madness” blasting the Board of Pardons' decision. Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis referenced “three violent assaults.” The DHS document explicitly stated that Chandee “was convicted again in 2008 on two felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon.”
WCCO (CBS Minnesota) checked the court records. There is no 2008 conviction. No charges, no plea, no sentence. Nothing in Hennepin County court records supports the DHS claim. DHS quietly deleted the 2008 conviction languageand the “three violent assaults” characterization from its press release. It issued no correction, no retraction, no statement of error. When WCCO asked DHS to explain the discrepancy, DHS responded only by sending a link to the edited document — the one that no longer contained the fabricated conviction.
MINNESOTA MADNESS: Sanctuary politicians have PARDONED At Xayasounethone Chandee, a Laotian national with THREE assault convictions.
The DHS fabrication does not change the underlying legal question. Chandee's 1992 second-degree assault conviction is real. The 1995 final deportation order is real. The INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(vi) pardon question is real and unsettled in the Eighth Circuit. But DHS chose to strengthen its public case by inventing a crime that court records do not support — and when caught, deleted the fabrication without explanation. That is a factual matter this site documents regardless of the editorial position on the underlying deportation question.
Established (sourced to court records + MPR News + Star Tribune):
• 1992 felony guilty plea — second-degree assault, Windom county fair altercation.
• 1995 final order of deportation — entered by immigration court based on that conviction.
• 30 years of law-abiding residence under order of supervision, per MPR News reporting.
• January 2026 ICE arrest, Operation Metro Surge.
• May 4, 2026 unanimous pardon by Minnesota Board of Pardons.
Fabricated (DHS claimed; court records refute; DHS deleted without acknowledgment):
• 2008 conviction on two felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon — does not exist in court records per WCCO.
• Characterization of “three violent assaults” — retracted.
Broadcast coverage of the DHS fabrication and the emergency pardon proceeding:
The Chandee pardon immediately became a national flashpoint, with federal immigration enforcement officials and conservative commentators framing it as evidence that Democratic state governments are actively using state constitutional powers to obstruct federal deportation law.
Minnesota's radical Democratic politicians used state pardon power to block the deportation of a man with a violent felony conviction. Governors and Attorneys General who use state pardon power to obstruct federal immigration enforcement are putting criminals ahead of American citizens. We will not allow Sanctuary State obstruction to stand.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
When a Democratic Governor, Democratic Attorney General, and a DFL Chief Justice call an emergency session to pardon a man ICE is about to deport — using a 30-year-old felony conviction as the basis — that is what sanctuary governance looks like. States do not get to veto federal immigration law through the pardon power.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
The Chandee pardon did not happen in a vacuum. In January 2026, the Department of Justice served subpoenas on four Minnesota Democratic officials as part of an immigration obstruction investigation:
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN)— Subpoenaed. Chaired the May 4 emergency pardon meeting four months later.
AG Keith Ellison (D-MN)— Subpoenaed. Voted to grant the pardon. His office has separately been a vocal critic of federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D)— Subpoenaed. Frey has maintained Minneapolis's status as a city with policies limiting local police cooperation with ICE detainers.
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her (D)— Subpoenaed. St. Paul similarly limits ICE detainer cooperation.
Source: CBS News National, January 2026. None of the four have been charged. The DOJ investigation is ongoing.
The January subpoenas and the May 4 pardon are legally separate events. Walz and Ellison exercised a power that is unambiguously granted by Minnesota statute: the Board of Pardons has authority to grant pardons. The DOJ obstruction investigation concerns different conduct — the pre-existing policies limiting ICE cooperation at the city and state level. But the sequence matters for context: federal prosecutors opened a formal obstruction investigation of these four officials in January; four months later, two of them used state constitutional authority to pardon a man ICE was scheduled to deport the next morning.
MPR News reported in May 2026 that other immigrants facing deportation in Minnesota have begun applying for pardons — explicitly citing the Chandee case as establishing that the strategy works. The Board of Pardons typically meets quarterly. The emergency May 4 session was called specifically because of Chandee's imminent deportation. Multiple pending applications suggest that emergency sessions may become more frequent if the Eighth Circuit ultimately rules in Chandee's favor.
The Center for Immigration Studies notes that other states with Democratic governors could replicate the strategy where their pardon-board structures permit it. Not all states have a three-member board with the governor holding one seat. But in states that do, the INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(vi) pardon exception creates a structural mechanism by which a state executive can unilaterally remove the deportability ground for an individual even against active federal enforcement.
Step 1: Non-citizen with a prior felony conviction faces deportation based on that conviction.
Step 2: A state Board of Pardons (or governor acting alone, depending on state law) grants a full and unconditional pardon of the conviction.
Step 3: Under INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(vi), the pardoned conviction no longer constitutes a basis for deportability.
Step 4: The non-citizen moves to reopen immigration proceedings. If an immigration court (and, on appeal, the BIA and circuit courts) agrees that the pardon eliminates the deportability ground, the prior order of removal is vacated.
Open question: Does a state pardon eliminate deportability when the original deportation order is already final? The Eighth Circuit has not yet ruled on this specific question in the Chandee case.
Three Democratic officials used an obscure but legally valid provision of federal immigration law to block an ICE deportation scheduled for the next morning. The federal government responded by issuing a press release that contained a conviction that does not exist in any court record — and when that fabrication was exposed by a local CBS affiliate, deleted it without acknowledgment. The underlying legal question — whether a state pardon can retroactively unwind a thirty-year-old final deportation order — is now before the Eighth Circuit. Whatever that court decides, Minnesota has already demonstrated the mechanics of the strategy. Other immigrants are already applying.