On Tuesday a relative of Iowa college studentMollie Tibbettsappeared to publicly rebuke pundits and politicians — includingPresident Donald Trump— who have usedTibbetts’ slayingas a talking point in ongoing debates about immigration in America.
“Please remember, Evil comes in EVERY color,” Billie Jo Calderwood wrote on Facebook Tuesday night, only a few hours after authorities announced that the 20-year-old Tibbetts’ remainshad been foundabout a monthafter she disappeared from Brooklyn, Iowa.
She was apparently referencing the fact that Trump and others, such as the Iowa governor, have spoken out in political terms about Tibbetts’ suspected killer,24-year-old Cristhian Rivera, whom authorities said is an undocumented immigrant.
At a rally on Tuesday, Trump invoked the killing in starkly electoral language.
“You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman,” he said. “Should’ve never happened. … The laws are so bad, the immigration laws are such a disgrace. We’re getting it changed, but we have to get more Republicans.”
Ina videoposted Wednesday, Trump spoke even more directly, referencing his longstanding pledge to erect a southern border wall: “We need the wall. We need our immigration laws changed. We need Republicans to do it, because the Democrats aren’t going to do it.”
Some of those following Tibbetts’ case online have used strident, even racist, language for Rivera.
His attorney has disputed law enforcement statements about his immigration status.
However, a manager at Yarrabee Farms, where Rivera had worked for four years, said he was employed there under another name, using an out-of-state government ID and matching Social Security card,according to the Associated Press.
Rivera “is not who he said he was,” the manager, Dane Lang, told the AP.
A U.S. immigration official further told the AP that they don’t have records showing he was legally admitted into the country.
Lang said an earlier statement from the farm that they had used the federal E-Verify system to confirm Rivera’s eligibility to work in the United States was incorrect, according to the AP. Instead, he said, they checked Rivera’s Social Security card against a Social Security Administration system.
It remains unclear when, exactly, Tibbetts was killed and how well she may have known her suspected murderer, if at all.
RELATED VIDEO: Man Accused in Murder of Mollie Tibbetts Appears in Court
While state authorities said Rivera was an undocumented immigrant, his attorney, Allan Richards, argued in a court filing Wednesday that is not the case,theDes Moines Registerreports.
According to the paper, Richards filed a motion seeking a gag order in which he stated that Rivera “is in this jurisdiction legally.”
“Sad and Sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter … which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members,” Richards said in his motion.
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He reiterated that complaint during Rivera’s initial court appearance later Wednesday where he urged the judge to “exclude the media from these proceedings.”
“Portraying Cristhian as something that he isn’t, I view this as a political payback for what’s swirling around,” Richards said. He also noted that Rivera, who has not yet entered a plea, has no prior criminal record and is presumed innocent.
Richards said Rivera first came to the United States as a minor.
Poweshiek County
Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office
Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s governor, reportedly said much the same in her own statement: “We are angry that a broken immigration system allowed a predator like this to live in our community, and we will do all we can [to] bring justice to Mollie’s killer.”
Second Cousin Also Speaks
Lucas, who didn’t immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, wasn’t happy about reading her cousin’s name in that context. (Calderwood also did not return a message seeking commentbut told CNN: “I don’t want Mollie’s memory to get lost amongst politics.” She stressed that she was not speaking on behalf of the family.)
“We are not so f—ing small-minded that we generalize a whole population based on some bad individuals,” Lucaswrote in tweet, that has since gone viral. “Now stop being a f—ing snake and using my cousins death as political propaganda. Take her name out of your mouth.”
“And FYI @RealCandaceO, my whole family is hurting right now and you’re not helping,”she continuedin another tweet. “You’re despicable and this is so far from the loving and kind soul that Mollie was. My prayers go out to you in hopes that maybe you’ll become a better person. not hedging my bets tho.”
Tibbetts, a 20-year-old psychology student entering her second year at the University of Iowa, vanished on July 18. She had been setto attend a destination wedding for her boyfriend’s brotherabout two weeks later.
“We know that many of you will join us as we continue to carry Mollie in our hearts forever,” they said.
source: people.com
