Man charged in Tibbetts' death worked at Iowa farm linked to prominent Republican

[workinclasszero]

USA TODAY NETWORK Austin Cannon, Des Moines Register Published 7:48 a.m. ET Aug. 22, 2018

DES MOINES – Cristhian Rivera, the man accused in the death of a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, worked for an Iowa farm owned by the brother of a prominent Iowa Republican.

In a statement Tuesday night, Dane Lang, of Yarrabee Farms, said Rivera was an “employee in good standing” and was “shocked to hear” Rivera was implicated in the death of Mollie Tibbetts.

Dane Lang is related to Craig Lang, the former president of both the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Board of Regents and a 2018 Republican candidate for state secretary of agriculture. Documents immediately reviewed by the Des Moines Register listed several owners of Yarrabee Farms, including Dane Lang and Eric Lang, Craig's brother.

Rivera, 24, who resides in rural Poweshiek County, Iowa, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the alleged abduction and death of Tibbetts, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

During a news conference Tuesday, authorities said Rivera was employed and lived in the area for four to seven years, but they would not disclose his employer.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/08/22/mollie-tibbetts-undocumented-immigrant-suspect/1060204002/

[SHRED]

1. Accessory to murder

If not for illegal hiring he would not have been here.

[gratuitous]

5. Also, why didn't ICE pick up Mr. Rivera?

Was ICE so busy kidnapping and torturing children they didn't have the time or manpower to find and arrest actual bad hombres? Why isn't President Trump coming down on "Incompetent ICE" for its failure to save the cute young white woman?

[workinclasszero]

10. ICE is too busy kidnapping two year old children at the border

You know the real threat.

[HopeAgain]

6. Talking like right wingers is not the answer.

They are not accessories to murder anymore than this is a reflection on immigration policy. The alleged murderer is Rivera, period

[SHRED]

7. Rightwingers never go after the employer

[HopeAgain]

9. Maybe not, but I won't cast immigrants as murderers

The employers are not knowingly putting people in harms way by hiring undocumented workers. That's how the right wants us to see things.

[SHRED]

12. Illegal hiring is a cancer on this country

And it's exploitation of the workers.

[HopeAgain]

14. So promoting a racist meme is the answer?

I think not...

[sarah FAILIN]

13. Alabama made a law that required that

They made it illegal to rent or employ illegal immigrants. Everyone cleared out and left because the owners didn't want to risk jail. Then the crops started rotting in the fields and that law disappeared. When it hit Republicans in the pocketbook, they changed their tunes.

[workinclasszero]

8. Yup

People wouldn't be coming here if republican business owners would stop hiring them illegally and paying them substandard wages with zero benefits under the damn table!

But when is the last time you ever heard of one of these republican lawbreakers going to jail over it hmmm???

Like NEVER!

Is the asshole GOPer that hired this killer going to do time for it?? Oh HELL NAW would be my guess!!

[sunonmars]

36. wanna bet ICE turned a blind eye to its republicans bigwigs......wink, nudge and brown envelopes.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. This is the real story

And I hope the Democratic Party candidates in Iowa beat their opponents over the head with it.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and will have their day in court.

Sometimes 'court' is the ballot box.

[uponit7771]

3. This is an excellent retort to the KGOP use of this tragedy

[ScratchCat]

4. While this is a very sad and tragic event

And nobody should take any "joy" in anything, Conservatives immediately tried to ramp up racial fear with this and now we find that the employer was a Conservative. I think it just blew up in their faces.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. Love this!

And -

The Governor signed into law a Sanctuary Cities ban in April of this year:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/10/iowa-sanctuary-city-ban-becomes-law-sf-481-reynolds-signs/504176002/

I don't think the leadership in Iowa is that effective if they have these 'big beautiful best' laws and something like this happens.

IF he did it (innocent until proven guilty) then Iowa really dropped the ball on their citizens.

[workinclasszero]

16. F**kin GOP hypocrites!

Make laws against liberal sanctuary cities in other states while their entire state is jammed packed full of undocumented immigrant farm workers hired by Trump voters!!

And the GOP hypocrites who do this put the blame of that poor girls death on democrats of course!

[JustAnotherGen]

17. That the crux of it

A prominent Republican in Iowa which has a ban on sanctuary cities hired an undocumented worker who is alleged to have murdered a 20 year old woman -

And it's really a Democratic's fault?

Really?

[workinclasszero]

18. I'm sure Faux noise and hate radio will get right on this story and...

[WillowTree]

15. "Dane Lang is related to Craig Lang......." Related how? Just kinda curious.

[joshcryer]

27. They're brothers.

Says in the article.

Just goes to show that they are in deep with the whole using cheap immigrant labor thing.

[WillowTree]

42. Thanks.

[Blue_true]

58. The entire rural farm industry and American restaurants run on cheap

immigrant labor. If ICE raided a typical farm, it would have to go out of business for lack of labor.

[joshcryer]

59. Indeed.

And if ICE really cared about going after undocumented people they would just stake out these farms, especially in southern states. Instead ICE focuses on the most vulnerable, people who are literally trying to save their lives, and who went through hell to get here.

It's already starting: https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/california-farms-struggle-to-hold-onto-immigrant-labor/58ed4af5572f8bfc02198975

[Blue_true]

64. Or ICE can park at a Home Depot or Loews at 5-9am every weekday.

Instead, just like most law enforcement, they go after the weak, easy targets. If they arrest a bigtime, well connected farmer or developer, they have a damned fight on their hands, it is far easier to arrest a hapless man or woman at the border that have nothing and have been running for their lives for the last four weeks, are in dirty cloths and at best have sponge bathed.

[joshcryer]

67. Exactly.

That guy at home depot who has been doing the jobs for years likely knows other in the community, they can (and likely will) get bailed out, get a lawyer (if you get bail and a lawyer the case can be held up in courts for years), worst case they can disappear, they have money, resources. The young woman escaping with her kid has gone through literal hell, has no money, has bet everything on just getting to their family in America. They have no recourse, they can't contact anyone, they have nothing, so they're super easy targets.

[Vinca]

19. If ICE went after employers instead of poor people this guy might never have come to the US.

[workinclasszero]

20. But..but..then

they would have to lock up hundreds of thousands of GOP slave drivers and we can't have that now can we?

Much better to blame democrats for the problems of illegal immigration huh?

It's a win all around for the GOP.

The Trump cult gets to bleat about a damn trillion dollar wall while GOP business owners count their profits from slave labor!

[joshcryer]

32. Yup, lots of farms and construction businesses would be SOL.

Prices would skyrocket.

And it's not even that hard to find the workers, I mean, they're damn good workers and good people because it's hard work, but if you simply looked at farms (that grow things that need to be hand picked like strawberries, etc), it would be trivial to find illegals working there. And they would always be there, because it's hard ass work (I know first hand).

VICE did a documentary about this (language warning):

But going at the heart of illegals, going after their work, would hurt the bottom line of the businesses, and they do not want to do that. Instead they go after them at the border, and they chose the weakest people there, because the ones that are at the border have struggled to get through. Most immigrants fly in and stay. The vast majority of them come here legally. They simply stay once they come in.

[Iggo]

48. They're not "illegals." They're people.

Happens all the time, and I'm not blaming you.

It's just that calling them "illegals" demonizes them.

They did commit a misdemeanor by immigrating to this country illegally .

But they are not illegal.

[joshcryer]

49. That's fair.

I just say it because I can't think of another word that is commonly used to refer to non-citizen immigrants.

[MichMan]

55. I can't imagine h0w difficult it must be for those trying to compete who are following the laws

Must be very hard for companies that only hire documented employees, pay benefits, health insurance, unemployment insurance and workman's comp to have to compete with companies that are doing none of that and paying people under the table.


The legitimate companies are most likely underbid on every job making it very difficult to stay in business. Thinking about roofers, construction and landscaping among others

[joshcryer]

56. I think they can do "well" when it comes to niche products.

Sell "locally grown organics" and stuff. But they're not really competing in the same area.

But with something like construction, where quite literally people hang out at the Home Depot to get work, you're paying those dudes half what they'd get minimum wage, and they are very eager to do it.

When they had a housing boom in Vegas they were completing a 100 houses a day minimum in Mountains Edge (area south of Vegas). Not even an exaggeration. 90% of the workers were undocumented because building stuff in 110 degree heat is just impossible.

[joshcryer]

29. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

See, they have no problem exploiting cheap immigrant labor. All the while demonizing them.

[LanternWaste]

21. I've a guess that the very people who lectured us that we were ignoring this story...

Will become suddenly and inexplicably silent on this development. This new development certainly puts the kibosh on their kaiser, so to speak.

[workinclasszero]

23. I bet you are right!

[WhiteTara]

22. Supposedly the fine for an employer to knowingly hire

an illegal immigrant is $10,000 per person. Wonder if they will fine the republicon?

[workinclasszero]

24. You know I can't recall ever hearing about an employer paying this fine

Ever.

Go figure.

[WhiteTara]

34. Me either, but it scared me straight

and one year I lost 75% of my work force. I cried because I loved each of those women. It was hard to replace them and it was never the same.

[Johnny2X2X]

25. Fine should be much higher

$10K is easily what this guy saved the employer over the years by only having to pay him slave wages and no benefits. Make it $100K and the practice would stop, or more likely the KGOP donors would direct their party to provide easy amnesty or an easy way for work visas to be obtained.

[B2G]

26. So if the company is telling the truth about him passing e-verify,

How did that happen in the first place?

If they are lying about that, a world of hurt is about to come down on them.

[workinclasszero]

35. Damn good question

Wonder if the media is going to follow up on that?

[B2G]

37. Media is reporting that the company has turned over his employment records

to investigators. So I would imagine we'll find out at some point.

I would think passing e-verify would be easy to document. If true, expect that to be the next talking point...that the system in place doesn't work and has holes. Which I don't think would surprise anyone.

[workinclasszero]

38. Well if the GOPer didn't game the system, which remains to be seen, then

lock it down airtight so these GOP business owners can't weasel around it!

Good luck trying to get that passed in a GOP controlled Congress though.

[B2G]

39. Why would the GOP balk at that?

They want to deport them all and don't want them here in the first place.

[workinclasszero]

44. Because they lie

You will never see a republican that doesn’t love cheap labor!

[B2G]

45. Well, yeah, there's that.

All business owners do, regardless of who they vote for.

Will be interesting.

[JI7]

52. lol

[WillowTree]

66. From what I've read, it isn't all that hard to beat e-Verify.

[progressoid]

28. Repubs are saying this shows how the system failed since he"passed the government's vetting process"

They're blaming it on Obama

[Kingofalldems]

30. Kick this one.

[spanone]

31. a prominent republican hiring illegals

[B2G]

33. Jesus christ, I feel so sorry for this family

who is about to have her tragic death turned into a political cage match.

Both sides are making me sick right now.

[RandiFan1290]

54. Too late

The republicons have already done that.

Not a good attempt

1/10

[Achilleaze]

40. republican hypocrisy strikes again

the whole republican party is corrupt

[malaise]

41. We do not know who killed this poor girl

Could be the man charged or someone else. The instant politicization from high places makes me cautious.

[WillowTree]

43. It's pretty much certain that he did it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/us/mollie-tibbetts-dead-iowa-college.html

Mr. Rivera was questioned by law enforcement officers on Monday, and he admitted to pursuing a woman running in the area with his car, according to the affidavit. He told the authorities that he parked his car, got out and ran behind and beside her. Mr. Rivera said she then grabbed her phone and said, “I’m gonna call the police,” and he panicked, the affidavit said.

After which he conveniently blacked out and doesn't remember anything until suddenly came around back at his car

[B2G]

46. I'm sure there will be plenty of DNA evidence as well. nt

[WillowTree]

47. No doubt.

[Blue_true]

62. What if the most important DNA evidence isn't from the guy that is in jail?

Him being an immigrant in a area like that could open up the possibility that someone else killed the woman and he is taking the fall to protect relatives. The guy may be pretty poorly educated, if someone that he sees as powerful threatens him, what can he do. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around someone being in the area for 4-7 years suddenly killing a person who may or may not have been strange to the area. Surely the farm economy around the area had young females around and young females visiting relatives or friends over 4-7 years.

[WillowTree]

63. Time will tell, one way or the other.

People had trouble believing that after dating for two years and being married for five and her being so pretty and pregnant that Scott would ever have killed Laci, but kill her he did.

You're toying with a bunch of assumptions there. One thing that is known is that multiple public security cameras picked up his car traveling where he now says he was and where it's known that she was running, so that's something. But there's a lot that isn't known for sure. Why not just wait and see what the evidence proves?

[Blue_true]

65. Yep, forensics will either bury him or open up a big can of worms.

But none of that brings Mollie back alive.

[Blue_true]

60. The autopsy of her body should provide firm data.

As sad as that sounds. Somethings about this seem strange, the alleged killer was in the area for 4-7 years and was totally law abiding, yet he attacked and killed a young woman. Were there other young women in that area during the 4-7 years, are there more victims, or did something else happen?

[Tipperary]

50. They claim that they e-verified him through the system when they hired him.

If so, that is even more fucked up.

[LisaM]

51. While both parties hurl blame at each other about immigration and hiring practices

the larger reality is that in this country, even in these so-called idyllic rural areas, a woman is not safe to go jogging by herself at night, or even in the day, for that matter. This is particularly true if she likes to do the same route at the same time each day.

It's a problem I've struggled with for many years. I liked to go running at night in my home town (it was a good time for me, I worked all day, I'm a night owl, it helped me sleep, it was the time my body liked to go for a run). I had to balance all those things against the fear of getting attacked. I eventually worked out a route (I was in a quiet neighborhood) where I figured I was close enough to a house of someone I knew, or at least someone my family knew, so that if there was a problem I could run up to someone's front porch for safety.

I don't like having to live this way and at some point, we need to move past the politics of this and figure out a way for women to live their lives as they choose, even if that includes going for a run at night.

[honest.abe]

61. Yes, that is the real issue here.

It scares me as my wife is often the target of unwanted attention, no matter where she is, if I am not around. She is attractive but that is not her fault.

[MichMan]

53. Looks like many posts here agree that anyone employing undocumented workers needs to be charged

Doesn't that also mean that anyone who is working without a green card or a valid visa should also be fired immediately thus making them unable to support their families and going back across the border.

So much for people coming here to provide for their families I guess

[joshcryer]

57. I think we're just pointing out the double standard.

I believe the vast majority of us want good immigration reform, amnesty for young people, etc.

The point is that Republicans want the cheap labor but they also want to scape goat the very people they're enslaving.

[JI7]

68. no, its pointing out the right wing bs trying to exploit this

to justify fucked up policies.