The country has been following the story of Mollie Tibbetts for just more than a month. Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, was your all-American girl from the small town of Brooklyn, Iowa. While dog-sitting for her boyfriend, Mollie went for a jog – certainly not an unusual activity for her. But she was never seen again. Posters with Mollie’s face were plastered around the state, reminding everyone to be on the lookout for the girl who vanished.
The mystery of Mollie’s disappearance captivated the country, especially those of us in Iowa, sitting in the front row. Shock waves woke the country on August 21, when police approached their suspect, Cristhian Rivera, a 24-year-old Mexican immigrant, who then led police to Mollie’s body.
Cristhian’s car was seen following Mollie on surveillance footage. He was then seen pulling up alongside Mollie, where he claims to have communicated with her. When Mollie asked him to leave her alone and threatened to call the police, Cristhian, in his own words, panicked, attacking Mollie and stuffing her into the trunk of his car. Rivera claims to have been blacked out at the time, only coming to when he was back in the car, Mollie’s ear bud on the passenger seat reminding him of us unwilling victim in the trunk.
And the country remains captivated by the story. A beautiful, happy, young life is cut short, at the hands of an undocumented immigrant.
This is not the first time an Iowan life has been ended by an undocumented immigrant. On January 31, 2016, 21-year-old Sarah Root was out celebrating her recent graduation from Bellevue University. Stopped at a red light, a Chevy pickup truck rammed Root’s Oldsmobile Bravada SUV, throwing it nearly 800 feet along the road. The accident crushed the vehicle so badly that the front and rear of the car merged. According to the Washington Post, Sarah’s spinal cord was snapped, skull fractured in multiple places and her face was swollen beyond all recognition. She was identified by her tattoos.
Police later learned that Eswin Mejia, the driver of the Chevy, was drunk, street racing, and an undocumented immigrant. Eswin was brought to the same hospital as Sarah and from there transferred to the Douglas County Jail where he was later charged with vehicular homicide. Eswin’s bond was set at $50,000, requiring him to post $5,000 to get out of jail. When a relative came forward to do such, Eswin was released four days later. After skipping his mandatory drug screening with the court on February 8, Ewsin disappeared and has been on the run ever since. The Root family may never see justice for their daughter.
Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Republicans, went to work to pass Sarah’s Law, which states that any undocumented immigrant who has been charged with a crime resulting in serious bodily harm or death will be taken into custody by federal immigration authorities. The bill passed the House of Representatives in June 2017.
Two young lives cut short by two people who had no legal right to be here. But is that truly the matter we, as a country, want to focus on in the light of these tragedies? Our current political climate has made it clear that immigration is a problem and these two horrifying situations have certainly done nothing to put out the flame that the Trump administration is fueling.
University of Iowa students have made it clear that they are unhappy with the way ICE and the administration are treating our immigrants. Nicole, an English major at the University, told me:
Anna, a graduate student in library science, told me this: “I think that people lately have had a very radical view of immigration policies and think that the best solution is to kick everyone out or build a wall. I think the focus needs to be on making the process of legally obtaining citizen actually possible for these people that need help.”
Other more conservative students and citizens of Iowa have made the argument that if these two men had not been here at all, as they had no legal right to be, these two young women would still be leading their lives, full of potential and opportunity.
Both sides of the argument have merit, both sides make a point. Billie Jo Calderwood, Mollie’s aunt, posted on her Facebook account saying, “Please remember, Evil comes in EVERY color. Our family has been blessed to be surrounded by love, friendship and support throughout this entire ordeal by friends from all different nations and races. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”
Yes, illegal immigration is a problem that needs to be dealt with. But now is not the time or place. To politicize the horrible circumstance that led to the death of Mollie Tibbetts is doing nothing but disrespecting the person and the impression that Mollie left on this world. A life was lost. Focus on that and not the color or status of the perpetrator. That is the root of the matter.
Megan Lehman is a graduate of the University of Iowa and still lives in the Iowa City area.
