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Man charged with raping 13-year-old had 19 deportations, removals

WICHITA, KS (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, Martinez-Maldonado’s immigration attorney, 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.

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