An illegal immigrant in Georgia has been charged with giving an underage girl alcohol and raping her.
Jose Tomas Pedro, 21, was charged and detained following an incident late last month, according to the Gainesville Times.
“According to the initial investigation, the victim met Pedro through interactions on social media,” Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Derreck Booth said. “A relative of Pedro drove him to pick the victim up in her neighborhood and dropped the two off at Pedro’s residence on Georgia Avenue, where he provided her alcohol and sexually assaulted her during the early morning hours of May 31.”
Authorities have not disclosed the girl’s age.
A relative of Pedro’s who is not currently under investigation allegedly drove the girl back to her neighborhood after the alleged incident, unaware of what had transpired.
After Pedro was booked on June 11, Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on him.
Pedro is being held at the Hall County Jail, and if he is released at any point, he is set to be turned over to ICE agents and arrested for deportation.
The case is still under investigation.
The Heritage Foundation, citing Bureau of Justice Statistics data, reported that noncitizens constitute roughly 7% of the U.S. population yet accounted for nearly 64% of all federal arrests in 2018.
