It has been one week since the police reported that a 14-year-old girl was raped in the school bathroom by two older students at Rockville High School. Within one week, Rockville high school has received 2 bomb threats and hundreds of derogatory calls regarding the rape case.
Rockville High School, in the Montgomery County Public School system, has been in the spotlight of the national media ever since the news broke. Parents across Montgomery County have raised concerns regarding the safety of their students in the school system. To answer questions, Rockville High School held a PTA meeting Tuesday night, where ant-immigration protesters congregated outside of the school, beforehand.
Some protesters gather ahead of PTA meeting at Rockville HS- the 1st one since 14-yr-old girl raped by 17 & 18yr old here illegally pic.twitter.com/uRWD6Ql2K7
— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) 21 mars 2017
The suspects, 18-year-old Henry Sanchez-Milian and 17-year-old Jose O. Montano are undocumented immigrants from Central America and are being tried as adults with first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sexual offense. Sanchez-Milan was born in Guatemala and lived there until he was 17, he only arrived in Montgomery County just a few months ago. Montano, born in El Salvador, also arrived just a few months ago. Both suspects were placed in the 9th grade when they entered the school system. The citizenship status of the two suspects pushed the nation into a hot-fire debate regarding immigration laws and policies.
“The student who committed the crime is primarily responsible,” said Smith. “I am responsible. All of the people who work in Montgomery County Public Schools are responsible. We all take responsibility for it. It’s a terrible, horrible thing, but the student who committed the crime ultimately has to be the one who is responsible for what happened on that morning.”
Although questions are being answered, this rape case has become an open forum for an anti-immigration rhetoric. Everyone has turned to our nation leaders to do something, to reprimand what they see to be a direct consequence of illegal immigration.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has put Montgomery County on blast for lack of cooperation. He states,“Not only have they refused to provide any information to us, but they’ve refused to provide information to the state Board of Education, which specifically requested more information.” In light of the Democrat’s House of Delegates passing a bill restricting police from checking the immigration status before deporting them or leaving them locked up long enough to be deported, Hogan stated, “I’m going to veto it immediately. I can’t imagine what these people were thinking. To even propose such a bill a few days after this girl was brutally raped by these two young men who were in this country illegally.”
Although Governor Hogan may attest to the value of the immigration status of the two suspects, it shouldn’t hold any weight to the case. This girl was violated, raped, in a place where she is supposed to feel comfortable and safe to pursue her education. Her pain is valid, her education is valid, and her case is valid. As a nation, we shouldn’t use her pain to push forth an anti-immigration agenda on the basis of stereotypes. That goes without saying, the public reaction to this case would have been different if the suspects had been two middle-class white boys.
“Some try to make this into an issue of immigration,” Smith said at a news conference Tuesday. “We would like to change the conversation.” It is indeed, time to change the conversation.
