Sad news broke yesterday: The body of missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts was found in a corn field a few miles from her home in the small town of Brooklyn, Iowa. Tibbetts’s sudden disappearance during an evening jog last month made front-page news across the nation as her family and friends appealed to the public for any information. Police announced Tuesday that they had arrested and charged Cristhian Rivera, a 24-year-old illegal alien, with first-degree murder.

Authorities stated that Rivera had been living in the area for the last four to seven years and that he worked at Yarrabee Farms, a local family-run farm. Yarrabee Farms issued a statement saying that Rivera had been “vetted through the government’s E-Verify system, and [he] was an employee in good standing.” The company further added, “Yarrabee Farms follows all laws related to verifying employees are legal to work in the United States, and we regularly seek outside counsel to ensure we stay up-to-date on employment law matters. We keep records on all employees and have shared that information with authorities.”

Meanwhile, the mainstream media continued its practice of blurring the lines between legal and illegal immigrants by referencing Rivera as an “undocumented immigrant.” Yet that proves to be ironic and misleading in this case, given that Rivera was actually “documented,” though it’s clear his documentation was not legal.

On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Executive Associate Director Matthew Albence noted the danger in Democrat and leftist calls for abolishing ICE. “If you abolished ICE and removed the whole interior enforcement arm of immigration enforcement, you will have created the greatest pull factor this country has ever seen,” he said, adding, “Individuals south of the border will know that as long as they keep trying and keep trying to get past the border patrol, that there is no possibility that they will ever be arrested, even if they get arrested for criminal violation in this country, that there is no possibility they will ever be arrested by immigration and by ICE. Without that deterrent effect, you will have rampant crime throughout our communities.”

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds asserted, “As Iowans, we are heartbroken, and we are angry. 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.” Texas Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott took aim at sanctuary cities, writing, “This is why so many Americans are angry about sanctuary cities. It’s why Texas banned sanctuary cities. It’s about safety.” Perhaps he was hearkening back to the last high-profile death perpetrated by an illegal alien — that of Kate Steinle in the sanctuary city of San Francisco.

No matter how Democrats and open-borders proponents try to spin it, crimes like this committed by illegal aliens are on their heads. Leftists play an active role in seeking to limit effective means of securing our country’s borders, working against the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws via the creation of “sanctuary cities” while calling for the abolishment of ICE.

If Democrats were truly concerned over the security of U.S. citizens as well as the plight of illegal aliens, they would be front and center in promoting a strong, secure border and the full enforcement of immigration laws. Doing so would go a long way in reducing the systematic and horrific abuse illegals suffer in the human-trafficking industry that thrives on lax immigration enforcement. But alas, for Democrats it’s all about securing their own hold on political power, not about serving their fellow Americans or even the illegals they claim to champion.

Update: Police are now saying Rivera passed a background check using a stolen ID, and the farm corrected the record by saying it did not use E-Verify.