Two male high school students who are residing in this country illegally were arrested for brutally raping a 14-year-old classmate in the bathroom last week. In response, Democratic lawmakers are trying to protect illegal immigrants like 18-year-old Henry Sanchez-Milian and 17-year-old Jose Montano, the rape suspects, from deportation.

Parents of students enrolled at Rockville High School are outraged. They’re speaking out against the school’s policies and lawmakers’ efforts to make their city and the state of Maryland a safe haven for illegal immigrants.

Kelsey Harkness of The Daily Signal went to Rockville and spoke with parents and local residents about the brutal assault.

“Why are these 19-year-olds with the 14-year-olds in class?” a parent named Debbie asked in an interview with The Daily Signal. “You don’t put a 6-year-old with a 10-year-old.”

“The question I have is really, if they already have a criminal record, or if they’re being thrown out from another school for one reason or another, why is MCPS putting the other kids in jeopardy?” she added.

“But after time in federal custody, each was allowed to join relatives in Maryland, two more individuals in a backlogged, secretive immigration system who would put down roots in this country long before their first day in court,” The Baltimore Sun reports.

The two suspects in the rape case were enrolled as freshmen at Rockville High School due to their limited English skills. At a PTA meeting on Tuesday, school officials handed out literature explaining they were legally obligated to educate any resident under the age of 21, under Maryland state law. A 1982 Supreme Court case decided 5-4 also requires all public schools nationwide to serve school-age illegal immigrants.

Both suspects were detained by border agents and slated to be deported when they crossed the border illegally in 2016.

“The mood was simply ‘Cover our reputation,’” attorney Robin Ficker told FOX 5 DC about the PTA meeting earlier this week. “There were long speeches from the principal, from the superintendent, from others who were associated with them explaining why this could never have happened when it did. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound to cure it.”

“We have become second-class citizens,” Hessie Harris, a nearby resident, told The Daily Signal. “If we do something we face consequences, but illegals under the sanctuary city policies, they don’t.”

“We need to be protected,” said Nadine Smith, a Rockville High School parent. “It’s as if almost the nation has turned against its own people.”

“You have young adult males that really do not have our culture and you are putting them in the same classroom as our 14-year-old girls and they are saying there is nothing we can do about that – sorry,” community member Theresa Rickman told FOX 5 DC.