A man who authorities say is in the United States illegally has been charged with raping a vulnerable 14-year-old girl.
Pablo Mendoza, 23, was arrested on Monday in Enterprise, Alabama, on a charge of first-degree rape, according to WDHN-TV in nearby Dothan, Alabama.
A complaint filed with the Coffee County court system said Mendoza had sex with a 14-year-old girl who was “physically helpless or mentally incapacitated” and unable to consent to the act.
The incident took place on Feb. 20, according to the complaint.
Mendoza is in the United States illegally, according to Coffee County Sheriff Scott Byrd.
The suspect was being held in the county jail without bail.
Enterprise man accused of raping “mentally incapacitated” teen https://t.co/7JDsN6gsdd
— WDHN (@WDHN) March 26, 2024
When the legal system is done with Mendoza, he will be sent back to his home country, Byrd said, without specifying which country that was.
Is illegal immigration the most important issue of the 2024 election?
The incident, coming on the heels of other crimes allegedly involving illegal immigrants — including the murder of Laken Riley in Georgia — brought condemnation from political leaders who linked it to the lax immigration policies of President Joe Biden.
In a post on X, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Biden “is aiding and abetting these monsters.”
This is Pablo Mendoza.
He is an illegal alien who was just arrested in South Alabama for raping a mentally incapacitated 14 year old girl.@JoeBiden is aiding and abetting these monsters. #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/Fv6dfZ8QTV
— Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville) March 27, 2024
“Joe Biden did this,” Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas posted on X.
Joe Biden did this. https://t.co/GKfEBYCFuZ
— Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) March 27, 2024
In February, after an illegal immigrant was charged in Riley’s murder, Tuberville warned that the lack of border security under Biden meant she would not be the only victim in which an illegal immigrant is charged.
“Our number one commodity in this country is our young people. Laken’s death is even more heartbreaking because it could have been prevented — and it SHOULD have been prevented,” he said in a Feb. 28 news release.
“To Democrats and this administration, Laken Riley is just another sacrifice on the altar of woke ideology,” the senator said. “The blame for this crime lies with this Administration and with the Democrat Senate majority. Democrats run Washington right now. The buck stops with them. Democrats could have stopped this — if they had secured our border.”
Tuberville said the list of innocents harmed by illegal immigrants “goes on and on. I could be up here all day. Americans are dying due to our open borders at the southern and northern border. And they are dying every single day.”
“Stop playing games. Stop playing politics,” he said. “Otherwise, this will keep happening. We are here and we took an oath of office to protect the citizens of this country. And more Americans will die.”
