A Guatemalan illegal immigrant who is now charged in Florida with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a child, had been freed into the U.S. with a court date for 2027, officials said this week.
The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office announced that Marvin Perez Lopez, an illegal immigrant from Guatemela, was arrested on Saturday for kidnapping a minor under 13 and sexual assault.
Detectives learned that he arrived in January after crossing into the U.S. via Mexico and turned himself into Border Patrol. Authorities say he was given a court date for some time in 2027 and released into the U.S.
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This undated image shows Marvin Perez Lopez, who has been arrested for kidnapping and sexual assault. (Palm Beach Sheriffs Office)
He is currently being held in the county jail on no bond, the office said.
Perez Lopez is alleged to have grabbed an 11-year-old girl and forced her into his van, according to the arrest report, reported by CBS 12. The girl’s mother is said to have spotted them and started banging on the door, before the suspect jumped out of the van and fled, according to sheriff’s deputies.
When deputies arrived at his apartment, Perez Lopez is alleged to have fled into an alleyway before he was eventually caught.
“Here’s a Guatemalan, who came into the country illegally, was stopped by the border people, released, and made his way to South Florida. And now he commits a crime where he held an 11-year-old girl against her will and sexually assaulted her,” Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told the outlet.
In a statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Perez Lopez was encountered by Border Patrol, issued a notice to appear and released on an order of recognizance after being encountered on Jan 19. A spokesperson said that ICE ERO officers have since lodged a detainer on him since his arrest on May 5. A detainer is a request by ICE that the agency be notified before a suspected illegal immigrant is released from local police custody and to hold them until ICE can take custody of them and put them into deportation proceedings.
The Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by the numbers of crossings by illegal immigrants. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The arrest comes as the ongoing crisis at the southern border rages and remains a top political issue in the U.S., including the release of migrants into the U.S. interior.
Republicans have blamed the crisis on the policies of the Biden administration, accusing it of adopting “open border” policies and of rolling back successful Trump-era policies.
The Biden administration says it needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress in order to fix a “broken” system and be able to tackle the ongoing crisis. It has also pointed to moves it has made to shorten immigration backlogs, including a rule that would empower asylum officers to make determinations on asylum cases. It has called on Congress to pass a bipartisan Senate bill unveiled earlier this year, which it says allows it to fund border security, including greater expedited removal. But conservatives say that the legislation would codify already high levels of illegal immigration.
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Meanwhile, officials at state and federal level continue to rack up arrests of convicted or suspected child sex offenders who crossed the border illegally. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced last week that agents caught three illegal immigrants with prior felony convictions for “Indecency w/ child Sexual contact” coming across the border in Texas.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
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