Grassley Speaks on the Murder of Iowan Mollie Tibbetts and Preventing Future Tragedy

 

Today,I’d like to speak about a recent tragedy that has deeply impacted my home stateof Iowa. Yesterday, authorities announced they found the remains of 20 year-oldUniversity of Iowa sophomore, Mollie Tibbetts, in Brooklyn, Iowa.

 

Aftersearching tirelessly for a month, state and local law enforcement announced theunthinkable. Mollie was murdered in cold-blood. I’d like to commend the effortsof all involved in searching for this remarkable young woman, including theIowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the FBI, Homeland Security and theindividual members of the community who volunteered tirelessly to find Mollie.Americans watched the news every night—all of us holding onto the hope thatMollie would soon be found and returned to her loving family.

 

Iwant to extend my sincerest condolences and sympathies to Rob Tibbetts—Mollie’sfather, and Laura Calderwood—Mollie’s mother. They spent the last month and ahalf searching the state for their missing daughter. Rob and Laura traveledacross the state; raised awareness on TV; and handed out buttons, T-shirts andmissing person’s flyers at the Iowa State Fair. Both Rob and Laura showedremarkable bravery in the face of tragedy. Know our thoughts and prayers arewith you and your family during this difficult time.

 

Forthose of us in Washington, we ought to try and learn something from Mollie’scharacter and the example she set. As Mollie’s boyfriend, Dalton Jack said,“she’s not just a missing person flyer.” Mollie was an avid reader who enjoyedthe choir, theater, and writing. Mollie loved her friends and had a naturalability to work with children.

 

Herfriends say she had a gift for making anyone feel like the most importantperson in a room. No doubt her nurturing character and her ability to beeverybody’s counselor, as a friend put it, led her to the University of Iowa tostudy psychology. There, Mollie spent her summers taking classes and working ata day camp with the Grinnell Regional Medical Center, where she mentoredchildren. It’s no surprise that when Mollie went missing, over 200 peopleshowed up for a vigil in her honor.

 

Whilewe mourn the loss of Mollie Tibbetts, it is the duty of this senator, and everyother senator in this body, to act to prevent further tragedies like this fromdevastating a family, and an entire community. We now know that Mollie wasmurdered by a 24-year old undocumented immigrant, who has been in the U.S. illegallyfor 4 to 7 years. That’s right. Four to seven years this man was hereundetected and unaccounted for. This raises questions about his immigration,employment, and criminal history; and we must receive answers.

 

Today,I sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security seeking any immigrationhistory on this man and a briefing to better understand how he was able to getto and stay in Iowa. The Tibbetts family, the people of Iowa and the Americanpublic deserve these answers.

 

Basedon the information I do have, it seems this murder was preventable. Stricterborder security measures, including increased personnel, enhanced technologyand modernized infrastructure could have prevented this man from crossing theborder. Stronger interior enforcement and addressing weaknesses in E-verifycould have prevented this individual from working and would have allowedimmigration enforcement authorities to initiate removal proceedings years ago.

 

Earlierthis week, President Trump invited officers and agents from Customs and BorderProtection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the WhiteHouse to thank them for all they do on a daily basis. Recent events are a starkreminder as to how much we need these hard working men and women. Amidst criesfrom the radical far-left to abolish law enforcement agencies such as ICE, I amproud to stand here in support of the brave men and women of ICE.

 

CBPand ICE are tasked with protecting the homeland—a duty they willingly acceptedon behalf of all Americans. Every day, the men and women of CBP and ICE putthemselves in harm’s way because Congress tasked them with this greatresponsibility.

 

Soto my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who call for abolishingimmigration enforcement, I urge caution. Scapegoating our uniformed officers,who are simply executing the law, to launch future presidential campaigns onlymoves us further away from one another, and further away from a lastingsolution.

 

Toput their efforts into perspective, let’s take a look at some data. Duringfiscal year 2017, ICE arrested more than 127,000 aliens with criminalconvictions or charges. ICE made 5,225 administrative arrests of suspected gangmembers. Last year, the criminal aliens arrested by ICE were responsible formore than:

 

-         76,000dangerous drug offenses;

-         48,000assault offenses;

-         11,000weapon offenses;

-         5,000sexual offenses;

-         2,000kidnapping offenses; and

-         1,800homicide offenses.

 

Andthose stats are just for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations or “ERO.” Lastyear, ICE Homeland Security Investigations made over 4,800 gang-relatedarrests. ICE also targets illicit drug flows, human trafficking operations andtransnational criminal and terrorist organizations. ICE is part of our broadernational security apparatus and often works hand-in-hand with their partners atthe Department of Justice, including DEA, FBI, and hundreds of federalprosecutors.

 

In2017, ICE identified or rescued 904 sexually exploited children and 518 victimsof human trafficking. ICE seized more than 980,000 pounds of narcotics lastyear, including 2,370 pounds of fentanyl and 6,967 pounds of heroin. To mycolleagues who have spoken strongly about combatting the moral stain of humantrafficking, or about ending the opioid epidemic gripping our country, I ask:how is ICE anything but an indispensable partner in this fight? How can weexpect to combat the flow of lethal narcotics without the brave men and womenof CBP and ICE?

 

Justlast week, I sent a letter to Secretaries Nielsen and Pompeo about an Iraqinational who lied about his active membership in ISIS and Al Qaeda in Iraq, sothat he could claim refugee status and settle safely in Sacramento, California.ICE played a vital role in his arrest. This weekend, ICE deported a Nazi prisonguard who was living in Queens, New York. And yesterday, ICE was immediately onthe scene in Brooklyn, Iowa when state and local authorities determined thesuspect was a foreign national.

 

Congresshas been dancing around the issue of securing our border and strengtheninginterior enforcement for far too long. We’ve told voters that we’ll fix theproblem, but stories like Kate Steinle, Sarah Root, Kayla Cuevas and now MollieTibbetts continue to appear on the news. Enough is enough.

 

Iurge the Senate to put partisanship aside and support Sarah’s Law. This is abill I introduced with Senator Ernst, in honor of a fellow Iowan Sarah Root,who was killed by an undocumented immigrant driving drunk and three times overthe legal limit. Sarah’s Law is a commonsense bill that requires the federalgovernment to take custody of anyone who entered the country illegally,violated the terms of their immigration status or had their visa revoked and isthereafter charged with killing or seriously harming another person. It alsorequires ICE to make reasonable efforts to identify and provide relevantinformation to the crime victims or their families.

 

Wecan and we must do better.

 

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