Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered the state’s National Guard to return from Washington, D.C. after deploying them to the capital for Fourth of July celebrations.
The deployment began in August to support crime‑reduction efforts, expanding the guard’s presence to more than 5,000 personnel and costing the federal government $3 million a day.
Under Title 32, guards remain under state control despite federal funding, and Walz clarified that the guard’s role was limited to the event. He recalled them after concerns arose that they were being assigned to areas unrelated to the original mission.
On July 1, Walz, the state attorney general, and the chief justice granted a pardon to Tou Lue Vang, a 42‑year‑old convicted of first‑degree sexual conduct against a minor in 2006.
Vang entered the United States in 1994 with legal status granted during the Clinton administration. His conviction, committed when he
