Sign up to receive your twice weekly newsletter

 
A-
A+
A

Democrat’s record of opposing deportation for a teenager who impregnated his sister could jeopardize his candidacy

The prosecutorial record of Democrat Carl Marlinga, a failed House candidate, former prosecutor and judge, is under scrutiny in the final days of the 2024 election, with a specific focus on his opposition to deporting a teenager who impregnated his 12-year-old sister in 1998.

Following the high-profile crime, Marlinga, who was then serving as a Macomb County Prosecutor, opposed the deportation of the teenager; he further called the incident a “youthful sexual experimentation.” His remarks were condemned immediately by health care advocates.

“When you’re having sexual intercourse with your sister, that is not youthful experimentation,” Patricia Fresard, the head of the prosecutor office’s sex crimes unit, said at the time. “There is something terribly wrong there.”

Alicia Rinaldi, who worked as a a counselor with sexually abused and battered women, said at the time that calling the crime an instance of “sexual experimentation minimizes what happened…There was a pregnancy because of it, a conception of a child, and an abortion. This is what could not be classified as children experimenting with their sexuality.”

Despite the heinous nature of the crime, “Marlinga said he wanted to prevent having a deportation split up the family and further traumatize a confused girl,” the Detroit Free Press reported at the time.

Marlinga is facing Rep. John James (R., Mich.), who was praised by Dan Conston, the head of the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, in an interview with the Washington Reporter; James defeated Marlinga in 2022.

Keep getting content like this delivered straight to your inbox!
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Mobile Opt-In
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe