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The federal government delayed the arrest of an illegal immigrant interning for New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez until after the November election, a story previously reported by the Associated Press but now backed up by government documents. The Homeland Security department was worried the case "had the possibility of garnering significant congressional and media interest." The timeline is somewhat unclear, but judging from the Associated Press's report, the unpaid intern, 18-year-old Peruvian immigrant Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, might have triggered his own arrest by applying to stay in the U.S. under President Obama's executive stopping the deportation of young illegal immigrants. Sanchez is a registered sex offender. The story is a little confusing, so here's what we know about the timeline:
2009: Sanchez, then 15 years old, is arrested on the charge of aggravated sexual assault after being accused of assaulting an 8-year-old boy. Sanchez gets two years of probation and has to register as a sex offender.
Mid-2012: Sanchez applies for the new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, allows young illegal immigrants to stay legally in the country for two years. He did not disclose that he was a registered sex offender. Citizenship and Immigration Services formally denies his application. Separately, Sanchez had not updated his sex offender registration, and "local prosecutors considered arresting him for that," the AP reports.