Illegal immigrant who committed multiple rapes after 2012 ICE detainer not enforced gets 80 years in prison

Miguel C. Luna, 37, was sentenced to 80 years in prison for beating and raping two women. (Will County Sheriff)

An Illinois judge on Monday slammed the officials who failed to enforce a 2012 ICE detainer on an illegal immigrant who later was able to beat and rape three women -- even though he "shouldn't have been in this country."

Miguel C. Luna, 37, a Mexican national who was living in Joliet, was given the maximum sentence of 80 years in prison on Monday after he admitted last May to the physical and sexual assaults of two women who were running on a state trail in separate incidents in 2015 and 2016. Luna also admitted to raping a third woman who has since died.

“You shouldn’t have been in this country,” Judge David Carlson said, according to the Chicago Tribute. “The system let the victims down in this case.”

The judge said he did not understand why Luna had not been deported in 2012 when a fugitive warrant for his arrest was issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“You were free to do these acts...whether through misguided political correctness or people who do not believe in laws or borders,” Carlson said. “One thing I can do with the sentence is show that the laws we believe in here, maybe this won’t happen again, maybe that’s a little bit of closure.”

Luna was arrested for the rapes in May 2015. He faced 16 to 40 years on each of the two felony criminal assault counts. Carlos ordered him to serve the sentences consecutively, serve at least 85 percent of the sentences – 68 years – and register as a sex offender if he is every released from prison.

During the trial against Luna, prosecutors argued the early-morning attacks on the women were premeditated and grew more sophisticated. They showed a videotaped confession in which Luna admitted to wearing surgical gloves, concealing his face and using a shirt to wipe blood off a victim’s arm to remove his fingerprints.

“He did not want to be caught,” Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Fillipitch said in court. “If anything, he’d become a more clever and crafty sexual predator if given the opportunity to do so.”

Prior to his sentencing, Luna said that he was traumatized by repeated childhood sexual abuse by family members.

“I realize now I needed professional help,” he said, reading from a statement. “I never had the means and now it’s too late because I’m facing a life sentence.”

Luna went on to stay he was “very sorry” for his actions.

Carlson said the abuse Luna said he suffered as a child does not excuse his actions as an adult.

“Nothing gives you the right to impart that hurt, that pain, that damage to anyone else,” the judge said.