Mollie Tibbetts: White House accused of politicising students death after sharing 'anti-immigration' video

Amid the breaking news, that police in Iowa had charged a man with the murder of a missing college student, the White House shared a video on Twitter which promoted an anti-immigrant sentiment.

20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts had been missing for more than a month in Iowa, having last been seen in her hometown of Brooklyn on 18 July as she took a routine evening jog.

On Tuesday, police arrested 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a Mexican man who had been working on a local dairy farm. He later confessed to her murder after they discovered what is believed to be Tibbetts body in a field of corn stalks.

On Wednesday evening, the White House Twitter account shared a video which featured families whose loved ones had been killed by undocumented aliens in the United States and reference the murder of Tibbetts in the caption.

Allen Richards, the attorney for Rivera, criticised the Trump administration in court for politicising the case.

He is quoted as saying by the Des Moines Register as saying:

Sad and sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter in national media which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members.

Richards has maintained that Rivera was working in the US legally, while law enforcement officials have disputed that claim.

In a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday, president Trump mentioned Rivera's arrest and Tibbetts's murder in a speech where he labelled immigration laws as a "disgrace".

You saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful woman. It should have never happened…

We’ve had a huge impact but the laws are so bad, the immigration laws are such a disgrace.

Newt Grinch, the former House of Representatives speaker, told Axios that Republican's may use the murder to help them during the November midterm elections.

In response, the Tibbetts family have condemned politicians using their loved one's death as a way to promote an agenda.

The use of the story in the tweet by the White House has been strongly criticised online.

HT Daily Dot

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