Plastic cups spell out “Rockville Strong” at Rockville High School in Rockville, Md, on Thursday. The school has been thrust into the national immigration debate after a 14-year-old student said she was raped in a bathroom, allegedly by two classmates who came to the United States illegally from Central America. (Tony Olivo/The Washington Post)Speaker after speaker criticized U.S. policies toward illegal immigration that have allowed more than 150,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America into the country in recent years, crowding immigration courts and public schools. “This was probably the most terrible incident that I’ve heard of in 60 years in Montgomery County,” Robin Ficker, a Republican candidate for county executive, said about the alleged rape. Ann Foxen, who was among the counterprotesters, said community reaction to the rape case “has just descended into something irrational.” “It’s a terribly unfortunate incident,” said Foxen, 70.

Source: Washington Post March 26, 2017 23:14 UTC