Dreamer accused of brutally attacking, raping 19-year-old woman

Salvador Diaz-Garcia, a 23-year-old Dreamer who falls under the Obama-era Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, allegedly beat and raped a 19-year-old woman in a Seattle-area apartment June 25, Fox News reported.

The victim was at her apartment complex's gym at about 9:15 p.m. in Burien, a Seattle suburb, when Diaz-Garcia came up behind her and continually asked her questions, at which point she asked him to move, authorities said.

The suspect allegedly attacked and raped the woman, leaving her with a number of injuries, including a broken jaw, dangling ear, missing teeth and a bloody head, Fox News reported.

According to SeattlePI, the King County Sheriff's Office said it was likely that the victim was hit with a kettlebell.

When deputies arrived on the scene, they found blood on the treadmill, a small kettlebell, the neighboring elliptical, the carpet and walls, and a larger kettlebell on a nearby rack.

The next thing the victim remembered was waking up in the hospital.

Diaz-Garcia was arrested four days later when witnesses and surveillance footage put him at the complex's pool shortly before the attack.

Investigators reportedly found the victim's blood on a pair of the suspect's pants. A rape kit found male DNA on the victim, although it is unclear if it belonged to the suspect.

According to the victim, she did not know Diaz-Garcia, but he had groped her buttocks the month before. Although the two did not know each other, they lived in the same apartment complex.

“The state is extremely concerned for the defendant’s brazen, bold, and violent behavior toward young women,” prosecutors said in court documents, Fox News reported.

Diaz-Garcia was granted Dreamer status in 2013 and renewed his status two more times.

Under the DACA plan, which began under the Obama Administration, kids who were brought to the United States illegally could apply for their deportation status to be deferred for two years. If approved, they are provided a work permit. Every two years, a person is required to reapply. To qualify, Dreamers must have been under the age of 31 as of June 2012, come to the U.S. before their 16th birthday, consistently lived in the U.S. from June 2007 to present, have been pursuing an education or received a GED, and not have a felony or certain misdemeanors.

Burien passed a sanctuary city bill in January.

"For me, this is primarily about public safety and the community feeling free or safe to interact with the officials that they see without fear of deportation," Burien City Council member Nancy Tosta told The Stranger in January when the initial sanctuary city bill was passed.

Residents, however, have collected enough petition signatures to force the City Council to vote on whether or not the law should remain in place. If they do not vote on the law, they must put it on the ballot for residents to vote on.

Burien now finds themselves in a potential legal conundrum. The Council had until July 31 to vote on the bill or put it on the November ballot, neither of which they did, The Stranger reported.

The bill's repeal is being pushed by former Republican congressional candidate Craig Keller, who ran for Washington's 7th Congressional District.

"You want to lean toward having this welcoming 'we want everybody here to be happy and feel safe,'” Debi Wagner, a Burien councilwoman, said after the initial passage. “How can we guarantee that if we don't know anything about people living in our midst?"

Diaz-Garcia is currently being held in King County Jail on $250,000 bail.