Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-5) strongly criticized liberal immigration policies after an illegal immigrant from Mexico confessed on Tuesday to kidnapping and killing Mollie Tibbetts, a student at the University of Iowa, while she was jogging in her small hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, age 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death after he led authorities to the girl’s body, which he had buried in a rural cornfield southeast of Brooklyn.
Tibbetts’ disappearance in July and the ensuing search drew national media attention, which is now multiplied because of the highly contentious issue of immigration policy.
Her death came as “Kate’s Law,” a bill that would enhance penalties for convicted and deported criminals who reenter the United States illegally, continues to be blocked from passing by Senate Democrats. The bill, named after Kate Steinle (who was infamously killed in 2015 by an illegal immigrant who had seven felony convictions and been deported five times), passed the House in June 2017.
Brooks condemned Democratic obstruction on immigration issues and said that Tibbetts would be alive if the nation had stronger border security and immigration laws.
“Mollie Tibbetts would be alive today but for illegal aliens and Democrat insistence on open borders and amnesty,” Brooks said in a release. “Mollie Tibbetts’ confessed illegal alien murderer never should have been in America and Mollie Tibbetts would be alive today if he wasn’t.”
He continued, “America’s death toll from illegal alien murders, vehicular homicides, and drug overdoses rises as Democrats shamefully turn a blind eye to the carnage wrought as they clamor for open borders and even more illegal alien amnesty.”
For 34 days, investigators searched for 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts. Yesterday, an illegal alien, now charged with first-degree murder, led police to the cornfield where her body was found.
The Tibbetts family has been permanently separated. They are not alone. pic.twitter.com/BBskwHEJoU
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 22, 2018
“It is the height of tragedy and hypocrisy that amnesty and open borders advocates so readily highlight the separation of illegal alien children from illegal alien adults while, at the same time, turning a blind eye to the real and permanent family separation caused by illegal alien murders of American children and adults,” Brooks outlined.
We commend the swift action by local, state, & federal investigators working in Iowa in apprehending an illegal immigrant, who’s now charged with first-degree murder. Now, justice will be served. We will never forget Mollie Tibbetts.
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) August 21, 2018
“How many more Americans must die before Democrats stop putting illegal alien interests above American citizens? Every American death is one death too many,” Brooks stated.
He concluded, “We can stop senseless deaths like Mollie Tibbetts’, and save American lives, by building the wall and enforcing our borders. America can do both if Democrats will simply get out of the way.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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