An migrant who was arrested at the border for crossing illegally before being cut loose has been charged with raping a five-year-old girl on Long Island.
Wilson Castillo Diaz, 26, of Westbury, is accused of raping the young victim at an undisclosed location on October 16, according to Nassau County Police.
Diaz, who illegally crossed the US border near Rio Grande, Texas in April 2014, was arrested by US Border Patrol agents and then released.
He later failed to appear for a hearing in immigration court.
Details about the circumstances of the alleged rape, including the relationship between Diaz and the victim, were unavailable.
The child was taken to a local hospital for medical evaluation.
Diaz was arrested on October 22 and arraigned the next day on charges of rape, attempted rape and endangering the welfare of a child, police said.
He is currently being held on a $200,000 bond.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been notified of the arrest.
The suspect, Jose Ibarra, from Venezuela, had crossed into the US in El Paso, Texas in September 2022. He was released by authorities due to a lack of detention space.
Riley was going for a run at the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens when Ibarra inflicted blunt-force trauma to Riley’s head and ‘asphyxiated her in a manner unknown to jurors,’ according to his indictment.
It also states that Ibarra ‘seriously disfigured her head by striking her head multiple times with a rock.’
Immigration has emerged as a major campaign issue ahead of the November 5 presidential election after an unprecedented migrant surge strained budgets in cities including New York, Chicago and Denver.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has dialed up his anti-immigrant rhetoric by suggesting migrants are committing crimes more often than US citizens, even though the evidence does not back up those claims.
In late September, Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris walked a stretch of the US-Mexico border and called for further tightening of asylum restrictions as she sought to project a tougher stance on illegal migration and address one of her biggest vulnerabilities in the election.
She balanced tough talk on policing the border with calls for a better way to welcome migrants legally.
The Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which includes El Paso and all of Southern New Mexico, is currently the third busiest in the nation, with only Tucson and San Diego having more encounters.
This part of the border has become increasingly deadly for migrants, many who have dropped dead of extreme heat.
In May, 23,478 migrants were encountered by US officials in El Paso.
Nationwide, 241,022 migrants were stopped trying to enter illegally into the US.
At least 2.2 million migrants have pass through the US’ borders in fiscal year 2024, according to federal statistics.
