Twenty-four-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a Mexican national, is charged with murdering 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts. He reportedly confessed to the crime. He had been living illegally in the U.S. for nearly a decade. How could this happen? Well, it’s not too hard, and when President Trump says our immigration laws are a joke—this is what’s he’s referring to. Mr. Rivera used a stolen identification card to get around federal background checks, but E-Verify was not used when he was employed at Yarrabee Farms, run by a prominent Republican family. They performed a different check tied to the Social Security Administration database (via WaPo):
Rivera was taken into custody after voluntarily agreeing to an interview with investigators, according to Mortvedt, who said state officials have been assisted by the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division. Rivera is charged with first-degree murder, and a judge Wednesday set his bail at $5 million.
Rivera was in the country illegally and used a stolen identification to satisfy a federal background check at the farm where he worked, according to law enforcement officials and statements Wednesday by his former employer.
During a news conference Wednesday, Dane Lang said Rivera provided a state issued photo identification and a social security card when he applied for a job at Yarrabee Farms nearly four years ago.
But those documents were false, Lang said.
He said Yarrabee Farms did not use the government’s E-Verify system to vet Rivera. Instead, the farm used a program connected to a Social Security Administration database, which didn’t flag any problems.
Lang would not disclose the name that Rivera used to get a job.
The Langs have received death threats since this development was disclosed. Liberals will probably leap on the Lang-GOP connection since this story chips into their narrative that all illegal aliens are good people, that we should have open borders, and that we should abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On a side note, leaving out the Lang element, we know that there are quite a few Republicans who agree with Democrats on having lax immigration laws, mostly because it provides a source of cheap labor. Whatever the case, the fact that Rivera used stolen identification papers to obtain employment speaks more to how our immigration system needs to be stricter. We need more ICE agents, we need to get rid of sanctuary cities, and we need the wall. Also, it’s not like the Lang family didn’t cross-reference anything with this alleged murderer; they ran a check through the SSA.
Yet, what matters is that our immigration system is in serious need of reform, another American family is shattered, and we'll have the Democrats trying to marginalize this horrific event. This tragedy was avoidable. And one party in Congress (cough* Democrats cough* cough*), will do nothing but stand in the way.