Report: Obama's DHS, Sanctuary County Kept Illegal Rape Suspect in U.S.

An illegal alien, charged with raping a teenage girl and a woman at a Maryland hiking trail, was reportedly released into the United States by former President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before taking advantage of a local sanctuary policy to stay in the U.S. after a criminal conviction.

Jose Roberto Hernandez Espinal, a 20-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador, was arrested and charged with first-degree rape, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, armed robbery, and kidnapping for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl and a woman at a hiking trail in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Jon Feere, Director of Investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies and a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official in the Trump administration, reports that Espinal was released into the U.S. in 2013 by Obama’s DHS before carrying out an extensive violent crime record.

“Sources report to me that the illegal alien arrested for raping a woman and a teenager has a LENGTHY criminal and immigration history and was repeatedly protected by sanctuary policies in Maryland,” Feere posted.

According to Feere, Espinal arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2013 with his father and was promptly released into the nation’s interior. He was later ordered deported after failing to show up to an immigration hearing in September 2014 but filed a motion to reopen the case last year.

While Espinal was serving a sentence for an armed robbery involving second-degree assault, ICE agents asked Prince George’s County to turn the illegal alien over to them following his release so they could arrest and deport him from the U.S.

The county’s sanctuary policy, though, prevents local officials from honoring ICE’s request, so Espinal was subsequently released back into the community. Espinal was arrested in February, just months before the alleged rapes, but was again shielded by local sanctuary policy.

In the rape case, police allege that Espinal approached the woman, who was with her friend having lunch along the hiking trail, and threatened them with a machete before demanding their cell phones. Espinal then allegedly took the woman, with the machete at her back, to a secluded area and raped her before stealing her jewelry as well.

Days before, police allege that Espinal raped a 15-year-old girl along the same trail.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.