Illegal immigrant charged with ‘barbaric’ killing, rape of Paris 12-year-old found in box

A 24-year-old woman accused of the horrific murder and rape of a 12-year-old girl whose body was found in a plastic box in Paris last week had been living in the country illegally for several years, a French government official said.

The killing of the girl, identified only as Lola Daviet, has triggered an intense political debate on President Emmanuel Macron’s immigration policies after the country's media reported that the 24-year-old suspect was an illegal immigrant from Algeria.

"The suspect in this barbaric act should not have been in our country," Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally party, said Tuesday during a heated National Assembly session, demanding that Macron's government put a stop to "uncontrolled immigration."