Following the arrest Tuesday of an illegal immigrant accused of raping an 11-year-old girl, Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely said Friday that illegal immigrants who commit crime should do the time before being deported out of the country.
For the past two years, he said, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has done a better job picking up and placing holds on people who have been arrested on felony charges.
However, Blakely said that in some cases illegals are arrested, bonded out by bonding companies and then deported without being tried on the charges. In order to keep those suspects in the country to stand trial for their crimes, Blakely is in favor of a tougher solution — denying bond for illegals arrested on felony charges.
“They’ll have to go through the legal process and be convicted and sentenced,” he said. “Once they’re deported, it’s impossible to get them in court to stand trial.”
Though bond was not denied for 23-year-old Juan Lopez Rios following his arrest on rape charges, his initial bond of $25,000 was increased to $500,000 this week.
Circuit Court Judge James Woodruff said there is much research to be done before the county can put tougher restrictions in place. He said there are statutes that provide the right to bail and the county must also make a determination between felony and misdemeanor cases.
“We’re just trying to look at the situation and procedures,” he said. “We just want to be sure that whatever we do, that it’s appropriate and fair. There is a concern over an illegal [immigrant] situation where he makes bond, gets out and no one stands for the crime.”
Illegal immigration has been a hot-button topic throughout much of the nation, and while he doesn’t dispute the work ethic of illegals, Blakely is in favor of securing the nation’s borders. He also noted that illegals in Limestone County don’t commit a higher number of crimes than any other group.
“For the most part, they’re hard workers and they stay under the radar,” he said. “They try to stay out of trouble because they’re trying to send money back home.”
Investigator Leslie Ramsey with the sheriff’s department said there were few new details on the investigation. Rios, of 20227 Holt Road, had allegedly been having a consensual sexual relationship with the girl for more than a year.
The girl’s mother filed a report on Monday after noticing several bite marks on her daughter’s chest.
“It looks like a pit bull got a hold of this child,” Ramsey said Tuesday. “She’s being taken to a doctor to make sure there are no infections.”
She said Rios told investigators he knew it was wrong, but didn’t think it was something he “could get arrested for over here.”
The child, who is a sixth-grader, is now safe, Ramsey said.
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