The despicable politicization of Mollie Tibbetts' murder

Mollie Tibbetts' murder is abominable. It is also not a good argument against immigration.

A poster for Mollie Tibbetts.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The murder of University of Iowa sophomore Mollie Tibbetts by an immigrant farm worker was abominable and tragic. But it is absolutely shameful that President Trump and other restrictionists have seized on this incident to justify the collective punishment and demonization of all unauthorized immigrants.

Using horrific incidents to push preferred policies has become a depressing political ritual in this country. Trump, of course, is among our most egregious offenders. He routinely draws attention to the families of Americans killed by illegal immigrants to rally the public around his draconian immigration policies.

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Shikha Dalmia

Shikha Dalmia is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University studying the rise of populist authoritarianism.  She is a Bloomberg View contributor and a columnist at the Washington Examiner, and she also writes regularly for The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications. She considers herself to be a progressive libertarian and an agnostic with Buddhist longings and a Sufi soul.