Lawyer Find

DHS blasts Minnesota board for unanimously pardoning illegal immigrant convicted of 3 assaults

07 May 2026 By foxnews

Are you looking for a holiday? Get special deals.

FOX FIRST: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is blasting Minnesota officials after the state's Board of Pardons unanimously voted to pardon a Laotian national with multiple assault convictions, a move DHS warned could block his long-standing deportation order.

Xayasounethone Chandee, an illegal immigrant from Laos, was convicted of assault in 1992. Following the jury's decision, an immigration judge issued Chandee a final order of removal in 1995.

Despite the order, Chandee was not deported and was convicted again in 2008 of two felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon.

DHS said the Minnesota Board of Pardons' decision to pardon Chandee could now thwart his removal from the U.S.

ILLEGAL ALIEN WITH 24 CONVICTIONS AMONG 'WORST OF THE WORST' ARRESTED IN MINNESOTA ICE OPERATION: DHS

"The Minnesota Board of Pardons' unanimous decision pardoning an illegal alien convicted of three violent assaults is absolute INSANITY," DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

"Chandee lost his green card following his convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon. Following his criminal convictions, 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 U.S.," she continued.

Chandee entered the country as a legal permanent resident when he was a minor. However, visas and green cards can be revoked when a holder breaks the law.

"It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live in the United States of America," DHS wrote in a statement. "When you break our laws, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country."