The White House has released a video politicizing the death of Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old woman whom authorities believe was murdered by an illegal immigrant in Iowa.
It is the crassest exploitation of a violent tragedy since former President Barack Obama surrounded himself with children one month after the Sandy Hook massacre to announce his new gun control initiatives.
“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 White House tweeted Wednesday. “The Tibbetts family has been permanently separated. They are not alone.”
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
The tweet comes with a video, titled “permanently separated,” featuring several real-life victims who have lost family members to violence committed by illegal immigrants. The victims’ stories are tragic. The video is effective.
The video’s release this week is also a transparent act of grotesque political opportunism.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again here: Please stop politicizing tragedies. In January 2017, following a deadly shooting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., I wrote this in response to the anti-gun zealots who use every shooting event to further their cause:
Everything I wrote in 2017 applies here with the news that law enforcement officers have charged a reported illegal immigrant in Tibbetts’ death. Just switch out the words “firearms” and replace it with “immigrants,” and you get the same thing.
In the wake of this woman’s murder, don’t rush to pin the blame on certain groups or persons, especially when it’s not clear whether the man charged in her killing is even an illegal immigrant. And especially don’t politicize tragedy when the family members themselves are begging you not to.
You’d think the White House of all places would take a softer approach to the Tibbetts news, especially considering it was press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who said in 2017 that presidents shouldn’t use tragedies to champion policy.
Gun control, immigration reform – it doesn’t matter. Stop using dead people for political gain, especially if their loved ones haven’t even had a chance to put them in the ground.
