Mollie Tibbetts murder suspect, illegal alien Cristhian Rivera, passed E-Verify
3 hours ago
Mollie Tibbetts murder suspect, illegal immigrant Cristhian Rivera, allegedly passed E-Verify system
By Lucia I. Suarez Sang | Fox News
Mollie Tibbetts case: What is E-verify?
What to know about e-verify and what it has to do with the Mollie Tibbetts case
The Mexican national accused of murdering college student Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa last month lived in the United States illegally for several years -- but was reportedly still able to pass a government system designed to weed out illegal immigrants from obtaining American jobs.
Cristhian Rivera, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder Tuesday after the body of Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, was discovered in a cornfield about 12 miles southeast of Brooklyn, where she was last seen running. Police said Rivera was in the country illegally and an immigration detainer was placed on him after his arrest.
Rivera's employer, Yarrabee Farms, confirmed Tuesday that Rivera worked at the farm for four years and said Rivera passed the federal E-Verify check, which is intended to maintain a database of I-9 forms and tax records of employees across the country.
http://a57.foxnews.com/media2.foxnew....jpg?ve=1&tl=1[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)]
But experts tell Fox News the E-Verify system is not foolproof and can be thwarted.
MOLLIE TIBBETTS MURDER SUSPECT WORKED LESS THAN 3 MILES FROM WHERE SHE WAS STAYING
Dane Lang, one of the owners of Yarrabee Farms, said in a statement that all documents regarding Rivera’s employment have been turned over to authorities. Yarrabee Farms is owned by the family of Craig Lang, the former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau and a former GOP primary candidate to be Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture.
“E-Verify has prevented a lot of illegal aliens from getting jobs. It’s the best system out there,” former ICE acting director Thomas Homan told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday, though he added there are ways to beat the system in “rare circumstances.”
“I would be interested to know is: Did they really run this person in E-Verify? And what failed?” he said.
Immigration officials have not confirmed to Fox News if Rivera’s identity was entered into the E-Verify database. Authorities have said he arrived to the U.S. illegally from Mexico at some point between 4 and 7 years ago.
A search of Iowa court records revealed no prior criminal history for Rivera, and it's unclear whether he'd ever been subject to prior deportation proceedings.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
E-Verify is an online system run by the U.S. government to provide employers with a way to check the eligibility status of workers. The automated system checks records from the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security to make sure an employee is legally allowed to work in the U.S.
An enrolled employer just needs an employee’s name, date of birth and Social Security number.
Aside from some federal contractors, E-Verify is completely voluntary for most employers.
MOLLIE TIBBETTS MURDER SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS CRISTHIAN RIVERA, 24, LIVING IN US ILLEGALLY
Identity fraud is the most common way illegal immigrants and "unscrupulous employers" try to thwart the system, said Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies.
“The illegal worker could present a fraudulent identity that will pass E-Verify,” she told Fox News on Wednesday. “And an employer or hiring manager who knows that the identity might be sketchy could look the other way.”
While the details regarding how Rivera may have gamed the system remain unclear, Vaughan said many of the cases prosecuted in the past have seen an illegal immigrant simply purchase fraudulent identities.
“There have been cases of inmates selling their identities because they are incarcerated and don’t need them,” she said.
In one Massachusetts case, a hiring manager actually had an agreement with an identity vendor across the street who would help any illegal immigrant receive an identity that would pass muster, Vaughan said.
“They would send them across the street and tell them to come back later,” she said.
MOLLIE TIBBETTS MURDER SPARKS LAWMAKERS' DEMANDS FOR 'JUSTICE,' COMPARISON TO KATE STEINLE CASE
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., who has championed making E-Verify a requirement for all employers, demanded the Department of Homeland Security release more information about Rivera, saying “little information is known about the man’s immigration and criminal history, or employment details.”
“It’s is crucial we understand the circumstances surrounding the traffic death of this young Iowan so that we can address any vulnerabilities in our border security apparatus, existing laws, enforcement practices, and resource allocation,” he wrote in a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News on Wednesday that was addressed to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. “We must prevent murders such as Tibbetts’ from ever occurring again.”
Rivera’s arrival to the U.S. as a teenager has also raised questions about if he may have been a so-called “Dreamer,” who may have qualified for the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Vaughan, however, said it is unlikely because to qualify for DACA, an illegal immigrant child must have lived in the U.S. for at least five years before 2012. If Rivera arrived in 2011 – the earliest officials believed he could have crossed the border from Mexico – he would not have fit the criteria.
USCIS officials have not confirmed any possible DACA status for Rivera.
“There are a lot of layers to peel off,” Vaughan said.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/22...fy-system.html
