A 32-year-old disabled woman in King County, Washington, was the ultimate victim of both weak-on-crime policies of local officials and sanctuary city status. The woman, of White Center, Washington, whose name remains unpublished, was raped by Francisco Carranza-Ramirez, 35, a citizen of Mexico, last fall. He served only nine months in prison. Last Thursday, he was released from prison without local law enforcement notifying ICE, and he allegedly went straight to the victim’s home, dumped her out of her wheelchair, and assaulted her in front of her three-year-old son.
Carranza-Ramirez was arrested September 26 for raping the wheelchair-bound woman in her home. He pleaded guilty at an arraignment in February, but because he was only charged with third-degree rape, as part of the deal, King County Superior Court Judge Nicole Gaines-Phelps sentenced him to time served, allowing him to be released the same day he was sentenced, on June 13, after just nine months in prison. His lawyer convinced the judge to release him without any probation.
Here is the twist. Typically, lawyers for illegal aliens try to cover their immigration status so they are not deported. In this case, the lawyers openly used his immigration status to avoid probation supervision upon release. His lawyer suggested that because he was homeless in King County and planned to board the next flight to Mexico, there was no need for further involvement in the American justice system. Having it both ways, the judge granted him full release on condition he register as a sex offender and provide proof that he left the country by June 25. Thus, the entire leniency was predicated on him being a Mexican citizen, but at the same time, neither the judge, the prosecutor, nor any local law enforcement notified ICE that this man was released.
Sanctuary city officials often contend that they have no interest in performing immigration work, yet in order to release this man without any supervision, the judge actually engaged in her own “self-deport” deal without getting ICE involved.
The result? Carranza-Ramirez didn’t fly to Mexico. He violated the protection order by coming within 1,000 feet of the victim just two days later on June 15. The next day, King County sheriff’s detectives say, he came to the victim’s home, knocked her out of her wheelchair, and attempted to strangle her in front of her three-year-old son. Sheriff’s deputies found her Sunday night on the ground with cuts and bruises and her wheelchair overturned. She was treated in a local hospital for a seizure and concussion and then released to a hiding place.
This could easily have been avoided had he been transferred to ICE or had ICE at least been notified of his release. Bryan Wilcox, acting field office director for Seattle’s ICE office, confirmed with KOMO that Ramirez “has committed a crime that would make him eligible for removal from the United States.” Now he remains a fugitive, and there is an arrest warrant out charging him with assault, felony harassment, intimidating a witness, and felony violation of a sex assault protection order.
To begin with, even putting immigration status aside, this is yet another example of how, despite all the talk of “over-sentencing” in the justice system, there are far more examples of under-sentencing, even for the most violent criminals. Here is an account of what happened last year, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Carranza-Ramirez first talked to the woman on Sept. 24, 2018. He allegedly approached her, talked to her but then she said she had to pick up her 2-year-old son and go to dinner.
He met the two later at the restaurant where she felt uncomfortable throughout the dinner, probable cause documents said. He offered to give the two a ride home as they lived close and she accepted. When they got home, he walked into the apartment with her with no invitation.
She told police he started touching her, telling her inappropriate and uncomfortable things like “I want to feel you.” She said she was scared of him, too scared to do anything when he carried her out of her wheelchair and allegedly raped her in her bedroom, documents said. He left afterward and she said she called 911, but hung up, feeling too scared.
Two days later, he entered her apartment again after walking her and her son back from the mailbox. She said he pushed her wheelchair to the bedroom where he raped her. She told him to stop repeatedly, until she convinced him she had to go to the bathroom. She called 911, but halfway through the call heard him move and put the phone down. The operator reportedly heard the woman saying “stop” and “I’ll be quiet.”
When deputies arrived, the woman was able to get away from Carranza-Ramirez, and deputies arrested him in the bedroom.
It is unconscionable that this man was sentenced to time served without any supervised release, but it clearly happens all too often, especially in “sanctuary-minded” jurisdictions that believe in “criminal justice reform.”
Then there is the egregious horror that a criminal alien was able to terrorize this woman multiple times, yet was never turned over to ICE. Last year, the King County Council adopted a policy of refusing to notify ICE or hold criminal aliens to be detained.
Moreover, in May, Governor Jay Inslee signed a law barring localities from even inquiring about immigration status. This is the single most important piece of information upon arrest, much more that someone’s race, because it makes all the difference of whether that person can be released to victimize more people or be returned to their home countries. Again, the state officials are having it both ways. If they want to “see no evil, hear no evil” about immigration status, that is fine. ICE has the ability to monitor the arrest records and inform local law enforcement with incontrovertible evidence that the person in custody is here illegally. But then they want to release them without informing ICE, even after ICE already confirmed the status.
Thus, states like Washington are not just washing their hands of immigration enforcement, they are actively harboring federal criminals.
On Monday, ICE released a mini-list of some recent egregious cases of violent criminals being released in Oregon and Washington thanks to sanctuary policies. In April, an illegal alien from Mexico was arrested in Oregon for raping a dog that later had to be euthanized. He was released two months prior to the incident, against an ICE detainer request. Oregon is currently considering a bill to grant illegal aliens driver’s licenses.
To date, Congress has declined to pass any legislation fixing the sanctuary city problem. With millions of criminal aliens remaining in the country, many of them harbored by sanctuary cities, that is the ultimate humanitarian crisis for the American people, yet Congress only sees humanitarian concerns about those they have not sworn an oath to protect.
Speaking for so many nameless victims in this country who don’t have international lawyers or Kim Kardashian in their court, this victim told KIRO, “I feel like the police did their job but the rest of the criminal justice system thoroughly let me down.” (For more from the author of “Illegal Alien Rapist Released by Sanctuary City Allegedly Attacks Same Disabled Victim Three Days Later” please click HERE)
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