Mollie Tibbetts, the 20-year-old college student who police say was killed by an illegal alien, would still be alive if immigration laws were “seriously enforced,” says Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)

“Prayers for Tibbetts family and all who knew and loved Mollie,” Cotton wrote. “Lots of questions—where did this illegal alien work?”

“What was his work status? But one thing is sure: Mollie would be alive if our government had taken immigration enforcement seriously years ago.”

Cotton is likely referring to the Obama administration’s lack of border enforcement given that the suspect in Tibbetts’ murder, 24-year-old Christian Bahena-Rivera, has been in the US for at least four years.

Bahena-Rivera was charged with first-degree murder after he admitted to confronting and chasing down Tibbetts outside her rural hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.

Bahena-Rivera admitted to pulling Tibbetts’ body out of the truck of his car and leaving her in a cornfield.

Police say they’re still not sure of the exact motive.

“For whatever reason, he chose to abduct her,” an Iowa official said.

The discovery of the University of Iowa student’s body ended a weeks-long search launched after she had went missing while jogging on July 18.

Police narrowed down the search location by analyzing data from Tibbetts’ cell phone, her Fitbit exercise device and security camera footage.

Brooklyn is around 70 miles east of Des Moines, the capital of Iowa.

President Trump referred to the Tibbetts case during a Tuesday night speech in West Virginia.

“We’ve had a huge impact, but the laws are so bad, the immigration laws are a disgrace,” he said. “We’re getting them changed, but we have to get more Republicans.”

“This election is bigger than any one race – it’s about whether we want to continue the amazing progress we’ve made for America, or whether we want to surrender that progress to the forces of extremism and obstruction.”

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