An illegal immigrant charged with the rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl was not previously known to federal immigration authorities, indicating that he had not been deported before and raising questions as to how he entered the United States.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has requested that the Columbus Police Department notify federal officers when 27-year-old Gerson Fuentes is released from custody so that he can be transferred to federal detention and begin removal proceedings in court.
“On July 13, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations lodged an immigration detainer on Gerson Fuentes following his arrest by the Columbus, Ohio Police Department for felony rape charges,” an ICE spokesperson wrote in an email Thursday afternoon.
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Fuentes was arrested Tuesday after he confessed to raping the girl on at least two occasions, police said. Police charged Fuentes with rape, a felony of the first degree in Ohio.
The Indianapolis Star initially reported on July 1 that a 10-year-old rape victim who was six weeks and three days pregnant was seeking an abortion and had traveled to Indiana after her Ohio doctor called an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist for help in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The story has since drawn national attention and was even discussed by President Joe Biden.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita plans to open an investigation into Caitlin Bernard, the doctor who said she provided care to the 10-year-old girl. “We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana, it’s a crime … to intentionally not report,” Rokita said on Fox News. “This is a child, and there’s a strong public interest in understanding if someone under the age of 16 or under the age of 18, or really any woman, is having an abortion in our state. And then, if a child is being sexually abused, of course, parents need to know. Authorities need to know. Public policy experts need to know.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, had questioned the girl’s story on Monday night, claiming he had not even heard “a whisper” of a report filed for the 10-year-old rape victim, citing requirements for Ohio providers to report any case of known or suspected physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect of a child under state law. He then released a statement on Wednesday after the arrest, saying his heart “aches for the pain suffered by this young child.”
AG Yost today issued the following statement regarding Columbus Police Department’s arrest of the rapist that impregnated a 10-year-old victim. pic.twitter.com/UPNM1pK3ks
— Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (@OhioAG) July 13, 2022
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Abortion is illegal in Ohio after six weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest, in accordance with a newly enacted law that took effect after the Supreme Court announced its decision to overturn Roe last month.
Abortion is banned in Indiana after 22 weeks, with some exceptions for medical emergencies.
