DHS blasts Haitian migrant’s ‘heinous’ alleged rape of disabled teen
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has called allegations that a Haitian migrant raped a disabled 15-year-old girl “heinous.”
Cory Alvarez, the 26-year-old Haitian national charged with raping the teen at a Massachusetts hotel that was housing migrants last week, entered the US last summer via President Biden’s controversial CHNV parole program. He was flown into New York City directly from Haiti.
“CHNV” stands for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The program allows up to 30,000 people each month from these countries to fly into the US and be granted two years of humanitarian parole, which allows them to apply to work in the US.
Administration officials have said these individuals are screened and vetted against national security and public safety databases. Anyone found to be a threat to national or public safety is denied admission and removed.
Individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are paroled into the US must have a US-based financial supporter and are responsible for arranging their own travel, administration officials have said.
The policy was first announced for Venezuelans in October 2022, which allowed a limited number to fly directly into the US as long as they had not entered illegally, had a sponsor in the US already and passed certain checks.
In January 2023, the administration announced that the program was expanding to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans. The program allows for migrants to receive work permits and a two-year authorization to live in the US; it was announced alongside an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include those nationalities.
Police in Rockland, Massachusetts, responded to a Comfort Inn on Wednesday night after receiving reports of a sexual assault. The hotel participates in a state and federal program to house migrant families, and Alvarez lived at the hotel.
The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said Alvarez went before a Hingham District Court judge on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a single count of aggravated rape of a child.
“The Department cannot comment on ongoing criminal proceedings beyond the standard information provided by ICE,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News in a statement. “That said, the alleged crime is heinous, individuals should be held responsible to the fullest extent under the law.”
