A teenage rape victim in Adams County believed she would be safe after her attacker, an illegal immigrant, agreed to “voluntary” deportation from the United States.
“A few weeks later, this girl is walking down the street and comes face to face with her rapist,” Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. “You want to talk about trauma? You want to talk about just the awful feelings this produced in this young woman?”

Stephens urged the committee to close a loophole that gives career criminals facing stiff prison time a “get-out-of-jail-free card” that U.S. citizens can’t obtain.

Offenders routinely admit they’re illegal immigrants and demand deportation. Their attorneys later get state criminal charges dismissed by telling a judge the defendant has been “deported against their will,” as one law enforcement official put it. They even get their bond money back.

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