WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Records obtained by The Associated Press show that a Mexican national accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus in Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. nine other times since 2003.
Three U.S. Republican senators demanded this month in a letter that the Department of Homeland Security provide immigration records for 38-year-old Tomas Martinez-Maldonado.
That man is charged with felony rape in the alleged Sept. 27 attack aboard a bus in Geary County in north-central Kansas, where he is now in jail.
Defense attorney Lisa Hamer declined to comment. David Trevino, a Topeka immigration attorney who has provided legal advice to Martinez-Maldonado’s family, said that many immigrants have multiple entries without legal permission because they have family members in the U.S.
A status hearing is set for Jan. 10.
___
This version of the story corrects Trevino’s relationship to Martinez-Maldonado.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.