After 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who is an undocumented immigrant, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of Mollie Tibbetts, President Donald Trump and other Republican lawmakers blamed the tragedy on the nation’s immigration laws and failing to enforce current laws.
While some have criticized this as “politicizing” Mollie’s death, the evidence is overwhelming that illegal aliens disproportionately commit violent crimes. Illegal aliens make up 40% of federal prisoners, and even the prison statistics understate the true extent of the problem due to the number of illegal immigrant killers who are deported. According to Department of Justice data, from 2005-2015 the U.S. deported at least 1.5 million noncitizens who were convicted of committing crimes in the U.S. – which amounts to amounts to 10 times the number of illegals in American jails in 2015.
One study that looked at crime data in Arizona found that illegal immigrants commit crimes at double the rate of the native population. In other words, even after deporting 10 times more illegals convicted of crimes that are in U.S. prisons and jails, illegals are still committing crimes at rates double the general population.
The news of Mollie’s disappearance had been covered extensively over the past month, but after the news of her killer and his immigration status was made public, it’s not hard not to get the impression most in the media wished the story would disappear instantly.
CNN’s Sally Kohn criticized Fox News for covering Mollie’s death before covering the news of Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen’s convictions, and one MSNBC commentator referred to Mollie as “some girl from Iowa” that Fox News cared about. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said “I know this is hard” for her family, but they “have to remember” that we need to focus on “real problems” like illegal immigrants not being able to see to their kids.
Rivera’s lawyer has made some equally absurd comments in defense of his client, going as far as to dispute the fact that Rivera is an illegal immigrant. That denial was based on Rivera passing e-verify check for work, but that was done with someone else’s ID. “The coverage that’s out there is leaning all one way and in fact, government has weighed in at the highest levels,” Rivera’s lawyer Allan Richards said in court yesterday.
He's an "all-American boy"….except the part about being American. https://t.co/KO7nkwPRJU
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) August 23, 2018
“In our system of justice, he’s entitled to that presumption of innocence until some evidence is presented. Portraying Cristhian as something that he isn’t, in some ways I view that as a political payback for what’s swirling around,” Richards continued to say of his client, who reportedly has already confessed to the crime.
Then there was this – Rivera explained that before murdering Mollie, Rivera had “no prior criminal record,” stating that “He was just a part of the community. An all-American boy working really hard.”
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An all-American boy…. minus the “American,” and “boy” part.
