A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is facing allegations of sexual assault at a detention center in Texas. A 21-year-old Lebanese woman has accused the agent of offering to secure a green card for her in exchange for sexual favors. US officials, however, have denied these claims, as reported by NDTV.
The woman, Rahaf Ali Almerhij, stated that an ICE officer named Markell Wallace took her into a private room at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, where he touched her inappropriately without her consent. When she refused his advances, the agent allegedly threatened to have her husband imprisoned and deported. Almerhij claims that Wallace dangled the prospect of a green card before her while disparaging her husband by calling him an “old man.”
Almerhij had been arrested last February for entering the United States illegally. In a sworn statement provided to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), she alleged that Wallace exposed the lower part of her body and began to unbutton his own trousers. She did not consent to these actions and demanded that he stop. As a detainee, Almerhij felt unable to leave the room, and Wallace exploited her vulnerable position to pressure her.
Almerhij’s husband, Sam Wise, stated that he learned of the assault in late August. He explained that Almerhij had kept the incident secret until then out of fear and shame, though he expressed pride in his wife’s courage. Almerhij is currently residing in Mexico. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—the parent agency of ICE—has rejected the allegations, labeling them entirely false. A spokesperson for the department stated that they take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and conduct thorough investigations into such claims.
