Overview
- The Minnesota Board of Pardons, which met Monday in an emergency session, unanimously pardoned At "Ricky" Chandee a day before a scheduled deportation on Tuesday.
- Gov. Tim Walz convened the session because the board’s next regular meeting was not set until June.
- The Minnesota Clemency Review Commission had voted 6-0 on Friday to recommend a pardon after testimony from family, coworkers, and community members.
- ICE detained Chandee in January during Operation Metro Surge and later moved him from a Texas facility to Louisiana for removal based on a 1993 second-degree assault conviction at age 18.
- State officials say the pardon may remove the legal basis for deportation, but his release from ICE custody is unclear and DHS has not responded to requests for comment.