(NewsNation) — A 26-year-old man was arrested Thursday in connection with the rape of a 15-year-old girl at a hotel being used as a migrant shelter in Massachusetts.
WCVB reports Cory B. Alvarez, 26, pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated rape of a child. He was ordered held without bail.
According to WCVB, investigators said the incident happened at about 7 p.m. Wednesday at a Comfort Inn in Rockland. Massachusetts officials are using that hotel as a shelter to house migrants.
DHS sources told NewsNation that Alvarez is from Haiti, and is a part of the migrant parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. This program allows up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans a month to fly directly into the U.S. after being vetted and getting a sponsor.
The teen girl was also a migrant, WCVB writes.
Born and raised in Haiti, Alvarez didn’t have a criminal history when he was paroled into the CHNV program, sources said.
NewsNation has reached out to ICE and DHS for comment.
Rockland police said this incident is isolated.
“Our department provides community outreach to the hotel,” Rockford Police Chief Nicholas Zeoli said to WCVB. “We also work in close partnership with the National Guard who are stationed there, and we work to just make it as safe as possible.”
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