Mexican Charged With Rape had 19 Deportations, Removals
"If someone is deported and they have family members here... they will find a way back whether it is through the air, under a wall, through the coast of the U.S."
12.30.2016
28
A Mexican man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in an alleged Sept. 27 attack aboard a Greyhound bus traveling through Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. another nine times since 2003.
The Wichita Eagle reports that three U.S. Republican senators demanded immigration records from the Department of Homeland Security for Tomas Martinez-Maldonado, 38.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley from Iowa and Kansas' Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts co-signed a Dec. 9 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, calling it "an extremely disturbing case" and questioning how Martinez-Maldonado was able to re-enter and remain in the country so many times.
Records show that Martinez-Maldonado had eight voluntary removals before his first deportation in 2010, followed by another voluntary removal that same year. He was deported five more times between 2011 and 2013.
In 2013, he was charged with entering without legal permission, a misdemeanor, and subsequently deported in early 2014 after serving his sentence. He was deported again a few months later, as well as twice in 2015 — including the last one in October 2015 after he had served his second sentence.
The Wichita Eagle further reports that court filings show Martinez-Maldonado has two misdemeanor convictions for entering without legal permission in cases prosecuted in 2013 and 2015.
It's not unusual to see immigrants with multiple entries without legal permission, said Topeka immigration attorney David Trevino, who has provided legal advice to Martinez-Maldonado's family, most of whom live in Mexico, but some of whom live in the United States.
"(President-elect Donald Trump) can build a wall 100 feet high and 50 feet deep, but it is not going to keep family members separated," said Trevino. "So if someone is deported and they have family members here ... they will find a way back — whether it is through the air, under a wall, through the coast of the United States."
Sen. Moran told the AP in an email that the immigration system is "broken":There must be serious legislative efforts to address U.S. immigration policy, and we must have the ability to identify, prosecute and deport illegal aliens who display violent tendencies before they have an opportunity to perpetrate these crimes in the United States.
A status hearing in the rape case is scheduled for Jan. 10.
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