Illegal immigrant charged with sexually assaulting 14-year-old girl was previously deported
A Guatemalan man who entered the United States illegally after he had previously been deported has been charged with the sexual battery of a 14-year-old girl.
Jose Chan, 24, was arrested last week by Florida’s Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Fox 25 reported. Authorities arrested Chan and held him at the Okaloosa County Jail to be picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Thursday that the incident involving the girl occurred at her house on Feb. 25, 2023. The girl told family members about the abuse and was subsequently taken to the HCA Destin-Fort Walton Beach Hospital.
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“A medical examination of the victim showed a positive finding for sexual abuse,” the statement read. “Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab results also found evidence of the girl’s DNA on Chan, via buccal swabs obtained from the defendant.”
The sheriff’s office investigated and charged Chan with sexually assaulting the girl. According to the sheriff’s office, the FBI helped confirm the man’s identity due to his past deportation by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Feb. 9.
The alleged attack comes amid ongoing concerns about the Biden administration's border policies that have allowed tens of millions of people to enter the country illegally. Some illegal migrants have committed severe crimes against U.S. citizens, including sexual assaults and murders. During the CNN presidential debate last week, former President Donald Trump said many young women have been murdered by individuals President Joe Biden allowed to enter the country illegally.
“We have a border that’s the most dangerous place anywhere in the world, considered the most dangerous place anywhere in the world, and he opened it up, and these killers are coming into our country, and they are raping and killing women, and it’s a terrible thing,” Trump said.
Concerns about illegal immigrants committing crimes received considerable media attention following the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley earlier this year. The suspect arrested in connection with her murder, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, entered the country illegally on Sept. 8, 2022, through El Paso, Texas. Ibarra was reportedly released into the country due to overcrowding at migrant detention centers.
Riley’s body was discovered around the University of Georgia campus, and authorities later determined that she died from blunt force trauma. The young woman, a student at Augusta University, was murdered after she went for a jog on the University of Georgia campus.
Another case that generated media attention concerns the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was strangled to death by two illegal immigrants in Houston, Texas. According to a statement from ICE, the two suspects, Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena, had previously been detained and released by U.S. Border Patrol just weeks before the child's murder.
"Martinez and Pena both entered the U.S. illegally without inspection, parole or admission by a U.S. immigration officer on an unknown date and at an unknown location," ICE stated. "On March 14, Martinez was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas. That same day he was released on an order of recognizance with a notice to appear. Pena was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol on May 28 near El Paso. He was also released on an order of recognizance with a notice to appear the same day he was apprehended."
Last week, police in Texas apprehended 37-year-old Oved Bernardo Mendoza Argueta in connection to the murder of two Chick-fil-A employees who were shot and killed inside the restaurant in Irving, Texas. The suspect had been placed on an immigration detainer by ICE, meaning that the agency intended to assume custody of him.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
