President Donald Trump recognized the death of an Iowa college student by bashing the nation's immigration system after an illegal immigrant was arrested and charged with her murder.
"Mollie Tibbetts, an incredible young woman, is now permanently separated from her family. A person came in from Mexico illegally and killed her," Trump said in a White House video posted to his Twitter account Wednesday night.
Trump's mention of Tibbetts being separated from her family was a reference to the practice of separating children from their parents when families illegally entered the United States from Mexico. The practice was ended after a public outcry.
Trump said what's needed now is the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico that he has talked about since his presidential run began in 2015.
"We need the wall, we need our immigration laws changed, we need our border laws changed, we need Republicans to do it because the Democrats aren't going to do it," Trump said.
"This is one instance of many. We have tremendous crime trying to come through the borders."
Trump closed the video by saying, "to the family of Mollie Tibbetts, all I can say is God bless you. God bless you."
An illegal alien was arrested Tuesday after he was questioned by police and led them to Tibbetts' body in a cornfield outside her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. Trump mentioned the case during a speech in West Virginia Tuesday night.
Billie Jo Calderwood, a member of the Tibbetts family, posted this on Facebook Tuesday night about the case:
"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."
In a court document filed Wednesday morning, the suspect's lawyer Allen Richards expressed his disappointment over Trump weighing in.
"Sad and sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter in national media which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members," he wrote, according to the Des Moines Register.
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