A Honduran man in the United States illegally has been charged with raping a teenager in Prattville.
WSFA reported Wednesday that Grevi Geovani Rivera-Zavala, 29, is being held in the Autauga County Jail on a charge of first-degree rape.
The incident reportedly occurred Saturday inside a restaurant on Cobbs Ford Road in Prattville, where the victim alleges she was forced into a bathroom stall in the woman's bathroom and raped by Rivera-Zavala.
According to District Attorney C.J. Robinson, the attack was random, and the teenage victim did not know Rivera-Zavala.
Robison also said the suspect has a criminal record in Honduras and was previously detained under a different name in Texas in 2021.
"This rape never should have happened," Robinson said, according to WSFA.
Rivera-Zavala had been denied bond for being considered a flight risk and potential threat to the public.
Incidents like these highlight what many Republican lawmakers have deemed a failure of the Biden administration to secure America's Southern border.
"16 on terrorist watchlist encountered at the border last month alone. And now this news," U.S. Sen. Katie Britt tweeted about the Prattville rape. "The Biden Admin failing to secure the border & refusing to enforce our nation's immigration laws is putting families & communities in every corner of Alabama at risk."
In a separate tweet referencing the same incident, Britt said, "This never should have happened. We have a humanitarian and national security crisis at the border that's endangering communities across Alabama and America."
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Secure the Border Act that would restart construction on the border wall, increase the number of Border Patrol agents and alter laws for migrants seeking asylum and unaccompanied children.
President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the bill if it were to make it to his desk.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com.
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