White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday the rape of a 14-year-old Rockville High School freshman shows why President Donald Trump is so “passionate” about cracking down on illegal immigration.
“This is a tragic event, and it is horrendous, and horrible, and disgusting what this young woman in Rockville went through. I can’t possibly imagine,” Spicer said at the White House on Tuesday.
Illegal alien suspects Henry E. Sanchez Milian, 18, and Jose Montano, 17, allegedly raped her orally, vaginally, and anally, sometimes simultaneously, on Mar. 16 as she cried out in pain and begged them to stop in a boy’s bathroom stall, according to a police interview with the victim. Sanchez Milian is a Guatemala native and Montano is from El Salvador. Both arrived in the U.S. several months ago, and a Border Patrol agent encountered Sanchez Milian in Texas.
A forensic specialist found blood and bodily fluids in the boy’s bathroom after the victim reported the alleged rape to school staff. The attack took place one month before the victim’s fifteenth birthday, according to the date of birth marked on the detective’s statement of probable cause.
Montgomery County, Maryland, where the alleged rape took place, is a sanctuary city, according to the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The county made an executive decision in October 2014 to “not honor [an] ICE detainer without adequate probable cause.” From January 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015, the county declined 70 ICE detainer requests, including 63 for illegal aliens with criminal histories.
“Let’s remember the human side of this, that this is a tragic event that no child, no person, no parent should ever have to deal with,” Spicer continued. “School should be a place where a parent puts their child on a bus or drops them off, and knows that they are safe. The idea that this occurred is shocking, disturbing, horrific, and whatever words someone can think of.”
While school officials have released no information on the alleged victim, Spicer implied she was a legal immigrant or refugee.
“This young woman in particular fought to come to this country legally, because of the freedoms and treasures of this nation and to think this tragedy would occur to someone who has personally endured that kind of struggle to come to this nation and then face this is reprehensible,” he said. “And it’s not who we are as a country.”
“Part of the reason the president has made illegal immigration and [a] crackdown such a big deal is because of tragedies like this,” Spicer added later. “Part of the reason is the tragedy this young girl dealt with, had inflicted upon her, whatever the word is. This is why he’s passionate about this. Because people are victims of these crimes.”
There are economic and national security consequences for allowing uncontrolled illegal immigration, Spicer said, “but immigration pays its toll on our people if it’s not done legally, and it’s another example why the president is so passionate about this.”
“But’s why he recognizes why it’s multi-faceted: Why we have to be tough at the border, why I just read off this executive order dealing with people that have committed crimes, who local enforcement agencies or municipalities or the state level are not dealing with it,” Spicer said.
“And if you go to the ICE website and download this, you’ll see it’s over 30-something pages of cases where there’s a person that is convicted of a crime that local and municipal law enforcement, for whatever reason, and in some cases they’re prohibited, but for one reason or another are not enforcing the law and not turning that individual over to federal authorities to be deported,” he added, referring to a weekly report published by ICE highlighting the different jurisdictions who refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed an immigration detainer request on the 18-year-old Sanchez, who is a citizen of Guatemala, but would not comment on the 17-year-old Montano since he is a minor.
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