Immigrant deported after being charged in Ingham/Eaton County child predator operation

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (WLNS) — U.S. government officials deported a 51-year-old East Lansing man to Pakistan following a child predator operation in October of 2023.

Rafique Malik Muhammad was charged on Oct. 26, 2023, on one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes. The 6 News Investigates Team review of records from the offices of both the Ingham County and Eaton County Prosecutors show Muhammad was one of 7 men charged in connection with child predator operations on Oct. 25, 2023.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detroit Field Office spokesperson tells 6 News Muhammad was legally in the country until December 26, 2016. But his permission to be in the country expired and he remained.

“Rafique was lawfully admitted to the United States with authorization to remain until Dec. 26, 2016, but he failed to depart in a timely fashion and violated the terms of his admission,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to 6 News on Friday.

Our investigation identified 46 men charged in multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force investigations into what officials call “child predator operations.” Those operations date back to November 2022.

Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd in an email statement to 6 News reports he opposed the ICE intervention and subsequent deportation proceedings.

The Eaton County Prosecutors office charged defendant in October 2023 with Accosting a Minor for Immoral Purposes after he chatted and spoke on the phone with an undercover deputy posing as a minor child.

On November 6, 2023, there was a request from his defense counsel for a PR bond to allow him to be arraigned on an immigration hold. Our office objected to the request for a PR bond because the ICE hold would result in him being removed from our jail and placed in an ICE facility, and start immigration proceedings. Over our objection, the 56A District Court, Julie O’Neill presiding, granted the PR bond and the defendant was subsequently released to ICE prior to the next scheduled hearing.

The Barry County Prosecutor’s Office was subsequently appointed as special prosecutor to handle the matter, and our office has not had a part of the case since November 9, 2023.

Email statement from Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd regarding the case of Rafique Malik Muhammad, Sept. 19, 2024

Court records from Eaton County 54-A District Court reveal Muhammad provided an address in Jamaica, New York. Handwritten notes in the file indicated an address in the Glenwood Apartments on Hagadorn Rd. in East Lansing. Additional court filings in the record used the East Lansing address.

Shortly after Muhammad was arraigned in Eaton County’s 56-A District Court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sought action under the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act to deport him.

And the immigration courts moved swiftly.

“Rafique Malik Muhammad was removed from the United States to Pakistan Jan. 31, 2024, pursuant to a removal order from an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review ,” a spokesman for ICE’s Detroit Field Office wrote in an email to 6 News.

ICE officials confirmed on background that the only reason cited by immigration enforcement officials in the filing with EOIR was Muhammad’s charge in Eaton County’s 56-A District Court. That means he likely had some legal status to be in the country.

Federal law allows federal authorities to remove an immigrant from the country for crimes called “Crimes of Moral Turpitude.”

The U.S. Justice Department reports , “The courts have held that moral turpitude ‘refers generally to conduct that shocks the public conscience as being inherently base, vile, or depraved, contrary to the rules of morality and the duties owed between man and man, either one’s fellow man or society in general.’”

Accosting a minor for immoral purposes is a felony punishable by up to 4 years in prison, a $4,000 fine, or both. Here’s the law:

750.145a Accosting, enticing or soliciting child for immoral purpose.

Sec. 145a.

A person who accosts, entices, or solicits a child less than 16 years of age, regardless of whether the person knows the individual is a child or knows the actual age of the child, or an individual whom he or she believes is a child less than 16 years of age with the intent to induce or force that child or individual to commit an immoral act, to submit to an act of sexual intercourse or an act of gross indecency, or to any other act of depravity or delinquency, or who encourages a child less than 16 years of age, regardless of whether the person knows the individual is a child or knows the actual age of the child, or an individual whom he or she believes is a child less than 16 years of age to engage in any of those acts is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $4,000.00, or both.

Michigan Compiled Laws

While Muhammad was deported to Pakistan on Jan. 31, 2024, Eaton County District Court records show a bench warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to appear for a February 9, 2024 hearing. The warrant was fully authorized and signed on Feb. 14. 2024, court records show.

Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich had no comment on the case or its outcome 6 News was informed by email.

Muhammad’s case is among 46 cases a 6 News Investigates Team investigation has revealed of “child predator operations” in Eaton and Ingham County. Those include the high-profile arrest and charging of former Holt High School Boys Basketball Coach Muhammad El-Amin , former Delta Township Supervisor Kenneth Fletcher and Waverly High School teacher Robert Herzing . El-Amin was one of four men charged in Ingham County stemming from the same “child predator operation” in early May.

This story has been updated to include a statement from Eaton Prosecutor Doug Lloyd.

This report was updated on Sept. 20 to include new information on Muhammad’s permissions to be in the country.

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