Democratic Minnesota Lawmaker Backpedals After Claiming She Entered U.S. Illegally

ST. PAUL, MN- A Democratic Minnesota lawmaker is backpedaling after claiming on the statehouse floor last week that she came to the United States illegally, Newsweek reports. 

Rep. Kaohly Vang, a Vietnamese national, was giving a speech and said she came to the United States “illegally.” However, she later attempted to walk back her comments, claiming that her parents are U.S. citizens, having taken a citizenship test, and that she became a citizen as a minor when she was in middle school. 

“It’s incredibly disheartening that my floor speech–where I shared my family’s deeply personal immigration story–was twisted into anti-immigrant clickbait. Let me be absolutely clear: My parents are citizens, and so am I,” she said. 

That stands in stark contrast to what she said on the floor of the Minnesota House, where she said, “My family broke the law to come here. I never knew that. I just learned that now. My family was just smarter in how we illegally came here. So when you’re thinking about voting ‘no’ on this bill, you’re voting ‘no’ against someone like me.” Those were her exact words, according to Fox-9 News. 

Vang continued, “The only people [who] could come to the U.S. were if you were direct military, you worked for the CIA, or you worked for [the United States Agency for International Development], which is why it’s so personal to me that USAID is getting unfunded.

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“And so what my father did was, one of our uncles worked for USAID, and because his mother had died, my father, as the one processing the paperwork, put my grandmother down as his mother,” she said. “And so I am illegal in this country. My parents are illegal here in this country.” 

When her statement got the attention of Republicans, Vang changed her story. 

“My family came to the United States in 1976. We came legally as refugees of the Vietnam War [which ended in 1975] where my grandfather was a Colonel, fighting with the CIA, in the Secret War. I have been a citizen for almost four decades. Regardless of how MAGA extremists see me in their eyes, I am legal and I am a citizen.” 

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It has not been lost on me that when my status was not in question, I was a model citizen who had been held up as the example for all other immigrants and refugees to aspire to. The second my status came into question, the vile comments on my worthiness came out, and those comments are telling. My status would not change all of the adversities I have overcome, the accomplishments I have achieved, and the contributions I have made,” Vang said. 

The Minnesota legislature was debating whether to remove illegal aliens from MinnesotaCare.