(AP) — President Donald Trump says the case of a slain Iowa college student is illustrative of the nation’s immigration laws.
Trump asked his audience at a rally Tuesday in Charleston, West Virginia, whether they had heard about the “illegal alien” from Mexico. Police in Iowa said earlier Tuesday that Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a 24-year-old man in the U.S. illegally, has been charged with murder in the death of 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts.
Trump said, “You saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman. Should have never happened.”
Trump called the nation’s immigration laws “a disgrace” that need to be overhauled.
He added, “We’re getting them changed, but we have to get more Republicans. We have to get ’em.”
Trump ran for president on a platform of cracking down on illegal immigration to the U.S. He opened his campaign by condemning many Mexicans as criminals.
