Undocumented immigrant in Iowa admits to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl

EXCLUSIVE — An illegal immigrant from Honduras who was released into the United States after coming across the southern border during the Biden administration has pleaded guilty in Iowa for the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.

Junior Manuel Dubon Benitez, 18, was arrested on Feb. 14 on suspicion of “sexual abuse upon Jane Doe a 12 year old child” at a residence in Waterloo, Iowa, days earlier, according to court documents obtained first by the Washington Examiner.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that Dubon Benitez was a citizen of Honduras who illegally entered the U.S. near Hidalgo, Texas, in April 2022 as a 16-year-old.

The case is the latest example of what former President Donald Trump has termed “Biden migrant crime,” used to describe crimes committed by immigrants who were released into the country after entering illegally amid the Biden-era border crisis.

Nearly 10 million non-U.S. citizens have been encountered by federal law enforcement attempting to enter the country in the more than 40 months since President Joe Biden took office — more than any other period in history.

Dubon Benitez was charged with second-degree sexual abuse but accepted a plea deal for third-degree sexual abuse, according to the court documents reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

He pleaded guilty in Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County on May 14. The final judgment was entered into the record on June 7.

Judge Melissa Anderson-Seeber will sentence Dubon Benitez in the coming weeks. He faces up to 10 years in state prison.

Dubon Benitez is being held by the Iowa Department of Corrections until sentencing. ICE has lodged a detainer with the state, a request that Dubon Benitez not be released after serving his sentence but immediately turned over to the federal agency to begin deportation proceedings.

ICE did not disclose if Dubon Benitez arrived with a parent or as an unaccompanied minor who was placed with an adult in the U.S. by the Department of Health and Human Services.

His connection to the victim, whose identity is protected due to the victim’s age, was not described in the court records. The county attorney declined to provide additional information beyond what was obtained in the court documents.

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On Tuesday, New York police arrested a 25-year-old man from Ecuador in connection with the rape of a 13-year-old girl in the middle of the day at a park in Queens.

The suspect, Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, is believed to have approached a boy and girl at the park and attacked the girl while wielding a machete.