A 17-year-old charged with raping an 8-year-old girl and leaving her for dead at an abandoned landfill is an illegal immigrant
Associated Press:
But Milagro Cunningham, a Bahamian native, escaped the notice of immigration authorities after three burglary arrests last year because his cases were handled in the juvenile justice system.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracks the identities of everyone booked into the Palm Beach County jail to seek matches against a database of illegal immigrants.
"If he had been booked into the main jail, he would have been checked," said Art Bullock, U.S. Border Patrol chief in West Palm Beach.
Cunningham arrived in 2003 on a visitor's visa from the Bahamas and overstayed the short-term limit, said immigration spokesman Manny Van Pelt.
His juvenile court records are sealed, but acquaintances say he was on probation when he was arrested Sunday.
He was indicted as an adult Thursday on six felony charges, including attempted murder, sexual battery and kidnapping. He is being held without bail on charges carrying a possible life sentence.
Cunningham allegedly snatched the girl from her godmother's apartment, where he had been sleeping on the couch after leaving the nearby home of his aunt and uncle about four months ago.
Someone reported to police that Cunningham had been kicked out by his relatives, and they were refusing to feed him. The couple filed a report listing him as a runaway April 29.
In Sunday's frantic search, the girl spent about seven hours buried under debris in a trash bin. Searchers discovered her when they saw part of a foot and hand at the old landfill. A college scholarship fund has been created for the victim.
Juvenile Justice
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Lake Worth teen charged in buried alive case suspended from school last year
Commentary: 'Too trusting' mother left wondering why
Child-Rape Suspect Is Illegal Alien
Illegal Alien Rapes and Kills 8-year-old
Our Immigration Enforcement Hard at Work
An Illegal? You don't say
posted by Adam Lawson @ 3:34 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
"three burglary arrests last year"
Again you have to wonder: Was there not probable cause to look into his immigration status at the time, even if he was a juvenile? Surely some effort must've been made to contact his parents or legal guardians -- something that would've given a hint about his illegal status. If so and this was not done due to some 'sanctuary' policy or whatever, i.e. his age (?), then here is yet another case where a terrible crime could've been prevented.
What a tragedy.
The parents ought to sue -- this sort of willful non-enforcement of the law has to be actionable, and a huge financial judgement would probably do a lot to get rid of 'sanctuary' policies all around the country.
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