The mother of a teenager killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2010 expressed her frustration on Thursday, saying she was begging for U.S. laws to be enforced.
“It’s absolutely absurd that we’re sitting here discussing enforcing the laws that Congress enacted and the president signed, and we’re sitting here begging them to enforce the law,” Laura Wilkerson told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
Wilkerson’s son, Joshua, was killed in Pearland, Texas by his classmate, Hermilo Moralez, who was an undocumented immigrant, in 2010.
Her comments come days after Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an undocumented immigrant, was charged with murder in the death of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts.
President Trump and immigration hardliners have focused on the case as they have intensified their calls for stricter laws.
“You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico, and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman. Should’ve never happened,” Trump said at a campaign rally on Tuesday night.
“We’ve had a huge impact but the laws are so bad,” he added. “The immigration laws are such a disgrace. We’re getting them changed, but we have to get more Republicans.”
Wilkerson also called for the enforcement of the federal government’s online E-Verify system.
“I want E-Verify implemented, you know, right away because it would say… ‘if we’re not going to hire you, then they’re not going to come here,'” Wilkerson said.
“And they can absolutely not take what we have paid into the system for our own families or Americans when they need it.”
The Iowa farming company that employed Rivera said on Tuesday that he was vetted through the E-Verify system, and was found to be in “good standing.”
— Julia Manchester
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