Rape charges dropped in immigrant case highlighted by White House

Prosecutors in Maryland have decided to drop rape charges against an undocumented immigrant student in a case that was highlighted by the White House.

“After a painstaking investigation and review of these matters, we have concluded that the facts of this case do not support the charges originally filed,” Montgomery County state attorney John McCarthy said in a statement, as reported by CNN.

McCarthy said the charges were dropped due to “lack of corroboration and substantial inconsistencies from the facts.”

Henry Sanchez-Milian, 18, had been charged alongside Jose Montano, 17, in March for allegedly raping a 14-year-old schoolmate in a bathroom.

{mosads}According to CNN, the prosecutors will instead charge Milian, a Guatemala native, with possession of child pornography.

The case gained national attention after the White House used it as an example of violence committed by illegal immigrants.

“The idea that this occurred is shocking, disturbing, horrific,” President Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, said when talking about the case during a press briefing in March.

“Part of the reason that the president has made illegal immigration and crackdown such a big deal is because of tragedies like this. … Immigration pays its toll on our people if it’s not done legally, and this is another example,” Spicer added.

White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday declined to retract Spicer’s comments.

“We’re always looking to protect the American people. Sean was speaking about what he knew at the time,” Sanders said. “I don’t want to retract anything without further information in front of me.”

The case sparked a war of words between news networks, with Fox News heavily covering the story in March and criticizing CNN and others for not doing the same.

“Rapes and assaults and murders are local news stories on a daily basis … but when do they break through to become national news, and when do they not?” CNN’s Brian Stelter said in March, according to The Washington Times.

“This week the health care bill in talks in the House dominated cable news coverage all over the place, but Fox News also focused heavily on another story, and sometimes tying it to the president’s immigration agenda,” he added.

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly accused other news networks of avoiding the story at the time, specifically singling out CNN and MSNBC.