US News

Alien perv interned for NJ senator: feds

WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) employed in his intern program an illegal immigrant and sex offender arrested by federal immigration officials.

An anonymous federal official with knowledge of the arrest of Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement delayed the arrest until after Election Day.

Menendez was re-elected on Nov. 6 with 58 percent of the vote. The 18-year-old illegal immigrant from Peru was arrested Saturday at his New Jersey home.

Department of Homeland Security officials yesterday denied the allegation that they had delayed the arrest, saying they followed standard procedures.

The intern was required to register as a sex offender in Hudson County, NJ, after a 2010 case, but the charges are not public because he was a juvenile at the time.

“Once [the arrest] came to our attention, our New Jersey staff director let the young man go from the program,” Menendez said on MSNBC.