Minnesota Rep Kaohly Her admits she's an illegal immigrant in shocking floor confession, quickly retracts

ST PAUL, MINNESOTA: Minnesota State Representative Kaohly Vang Her clarified her legal status after her floor speech, stating that she and her parents are US citizens.

An emotional revelation on the Minnesota House floor has ignited a political firestorm. On Monday, June 9, Minnesota State Representative Kaohly Vang Her shared that her family entered the US without legal documentation, a personal disclosure that quickly went viral.

Minnesota law requires legislative candidates to be US citizens for at least three months before the general election, prompting scrutiny and raising legal questions in the wake of her comments.

Kaohly Vang Her clarifies her legal status after floor speech

Minnesota State Representative Kaohly Vang Her has responded to a wave of controversy following an emotional speech she delivered on the House floor during a debate on expanding MinnesotaCare coverage to undocumented immigrants.

In an interview with the Minnesota Reformer, Her clarified her legal status. She stated that both she and her parents are US citizens. She, a Laos refugee, came to the United States at the age of three. She said her parents later took their citizenship test, and she became a citizen as a minor while 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 clarified, as per Fox 9.

She added, " This clickbait directly contradicts the empathy and understanding I sought to foster and instead fueled anti-immigrant narratives with falsehoods. My family story should not have been weaponized to spread misinformation."

She detailed, "My family came to the United States in 1976. We came legally as refugees of the Vietnam War, 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. "

"My family has lived the American Dream. My parents worked honorable blue-collar jobs and built a life for my siblings and me. We completed our education, secured gainful employment, paid our taxes, gave back to our communities, and served in the military and elected office for the very country that gave us a new start," she explained.

Her continued, "All refugees and immigrants, documented or not, have the right to seek a better life, to have safety for their family, and to fulfill their greatest potential — like all immigrants who came before them."

"It has not been lost on me that when my status was not in question, I was a model citizen who has been held up as the example for all other immigrants and refugees to aspire to," she said.

"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," Her added.

Kaohly Vang Her opens up about her family's journey to the US

In her remarks, delivered on Monday, June 9, Her shared a deeply personal story about her family’s journey to the United States, saying, “I am illegal in this country. My parents are illegal here in this country.” 

Her’s speech came at a volatile moment nationally, as protests erupted over federal ICE raids in Los Angeles targeting immigrant communities. With the political climate growing more polarized, Her’s candid account has both sparked empathy and drawn intense scrutiny.

Her explained that her family fled Laos after the Vietnam War and arrived in the US without legal documentation, a revelation she hoped would humanize the people affected by the proposed legislation, as per Newsweek.

“I tell you this story because I want you to think about who it is that you are calling illegal,” she said, urging her Republican colleagues to reconsider a vote that would strip state-funded healthcare from undocumented adults.

“My family was just smarter in how we illegally came here. We had more privileges and more ability, which is why we came here in that way.” 

Her detailed how her father altered immigration paperwork in a desperate bid to secure entry into the US during a time when only people with direct ties to the US military, CIA, or USAID were permitted to immigrate. 

She explained, "The only people who [could] come to the US were if you were the 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." 

“But we did not do either one of those. My parents’ Christian organization did not count,” she said. “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. And so I am illegal in this country. My parents are illegal here in this country.” 

"When we were fleeing this situation, never one time did my family say, 'Let's look at which state has the greatest welfare and which state has the greatest benefits because that's the state we're going to go to,'" Her shared. 

Reflecting on her discovery about the details of her family's immigration, Her admitted, “I never knew that. I just learned that now. So, when you're thinking about voting no on this bill, you're voting no against someone like me who paid more into this country than it has ever given to me, that the blood of my grandfather, who died for democracy, that he never received benefits being in this country, and yet he paid taxes his entire life into it.”

Online backlash persists even after Kaohly Vang Her confirms US citizenship

Despite Kaohly Vang Her's clarification of her legal status, the internet response remained largely critical.

One X user said, "This really pisses me off."

Another commented, "Now she claims she's a legal citizen with zero foundation other than her family was "smarter" in entering illegally and her father lied about qualifications - "fudged some paperwork.""

One person said, "I don't think she means that."

Another shared, "And she’ll get away with it, as do all the treasonous rats that run MN. “Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.”"

Another demanded, "She needs to be pulled."

One individual asked, "Also MN State Rep Her: Would you believe me if I told you I was a liar?"

This article contains remarks made on the internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.