Evidence doesn't back feds' claim that man pardoned just before deportation had more extensive criminal background
Federal officials are slamming Minnesota's decision to pardon a man one day before he was scheduled to be deported.
The Department of Homeland Security is now claiming that At Chandee, 52, has a deeper criminal record than initially reported. His lawyer told WCCO that DHS is wrong.
Chandee, a refugee from Laos, had a deportation order connected to a 1992 conviction for assault. That's why Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him during Operation Metro Surge in January. After serving his sentence, Chandee stayed in the U.S., because Laos wasn't accepting deportees at the time. He has remained under ICE supervision ever since.
Chandee has worked as an engineer technician for the City of Minneapolis for the past 27 years. Court records show he's had zero convictions since his 1992 case.
While in ICE detention, the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission unanimously approved recommending Chandee for a pardon. The State Board of Pardons then held an emergency meeting on May 4, the day before his deportation date, to grant his 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," said Gov. Tim Walz, who is on the pardon board.
Chandee's deportation was put on hold for two weeks.
Two days after the pardon was granted, DHS claimed Chandee had two more felony convictions for assault in 2008. Chandee's attorney, Linus Chan, said his client's only felony conviction came in 1992.
WCCO checked Minnesota's online court records and couldn't find the 2008 convictions. WCCO also checked the federal database and found nothing.
The Clemency Review Commission did a state and federal criminal background check on Chandee before his hearing last week. It could not find any felonies on his record beyond the 1992 case. At the hearing, a member of the commission said all they found on Chandee since his initial conviction was a case for improper parking in 2006.
WCCO contacted DHS and ICE to ask for clarification on where the 2008 convictions happened. We're still waiting to hear back.