Illegal Alien Raped 3-Year-Old After Freed By Sanctuary City, Despite ICE Warning
Mexican Christopher Puente caught sexually assaulting toddler in bathroom by father
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An illegal alien, who was freed by Sanctuary City authorities in Chicago despite a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain him, went on to allegedly rape a 3-year-old girl, according to reports.
34-year-old Mexican immigrant Christopher Puente was released by Chicago authorities despite ICE telling them not to.
After being freed, he reportedly "went on to rape a three-year-old girl in a McDonald's bathroom as she cried 'daddy, daddy'."
According to police, the toddler was rescued by her father who heard her screams and dragged her under the bathroom stall by her legs to free her from the alien's grip.
Puente is accused of sexually assaulting the girl at around 8 am on February 19 inside the McDonald's restaurant on 600 N. Clark St. in the River North area of the city.
The alleged attack occurred while the girl's father was in another stall with her brother, who had had an accident in the restaurant.
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According to a press release on Thursday, Puente had two felony convictions for forced-entry burglary and forgery.
Despite his background, Chicago declined ICE's June 2019 request to detain Puente -- raising more concerns about a jurisdiction already under fire for defying ICE.
A CBS affiliate reported that Puente confessed to placing "the child on his lap while he was in a restroom stall, pulled off her pants, and covered her mouth when she started calling out 'daddy, daddy.'"
This is one of those cases I wish I hadn’t been inside the courtroom to listen to the details of. When the judge refused to set bond Christopher Puente actually yelled out “But this is my first time!” More on his chilling confession at 5pm.@ABC7Chicago https://t.co/2ZxTGmndnd
— Michelle Gallardo (@GallardoABC7) February 20, 2020
ICE has said this is an increasingly common battle, with the agency reporting that Cook County, which includes Chicago, denied more than 1,000 detainer requests in 2019 alone.
Puente's bond hearing in Cook County heard the little girl's mouth was covered as she began whimpering "daddy, daddy" - before her father pulled her legs from under the door to get her to safety.
The horrific ordeal was relayed in court where the accused rapist appeared for the first time.
Robert Guadian, field office director of Chicago Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), blamed "irresponsible lawmaking" for Puentes release.
"How many more victims must there be before lawmakers realize that sanctuary policies do not protect the innocent?" Guadian said.
"Puente should have been in ICE custody last year and removed to his home country," he told Fox News.
"Instead, irresponsible lawmaking allowed him to walk free and prey on our most vulnerable."
Cook County, which includes Chicago, had previously come under fire from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who threatened to revoke federal funding over its sanctuary status.
The Justice Department also sent letters to New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Milwaukee, and New York City.
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ICE official Henry Lucero previously warned that Illinois' sanctuary status made it more difficult for federal authorities to track criminals.
“The most concerning issue about working in an area that refuses to cooperate with ICE is not only that we do not know which criminal aliens are being released from custody, but the public doesn’t know either,” he said.
The sanctuary issue has put a long list of states under scrutiny as the administration has blamed local laws for crimes against American citizens.
ICE reported earlier this month that hundreds of Orange County Jail inmates on whom the agency had active detainers were re-arrested over the past two years on charges including rape, assault with a deadly weapon and child sex offenses -- after local authorities released them without notifying ICE.
According to county data, officials at the Southern California jail didn't notify ICE when it released 2,121 inmates with detainers on them over 2018 and 2019.
Over that same period, another 1,315 were released "to ICE upon completion of their local sentences in accordance with" California's sanctuary regulations laid out in Senate Bill 54, an ICE press release said.
