Tragedy in Iowa

Student’s death demands immigration fixes

Far removed from the coasts and the border states that factor so prominently in the national immigration debate are places like rural Iowa, where the body of Mollie Tibbetts was found Tuesday in a cornfield.

Iowa has a “people shortage.” It has more jobs than workers, and the immigration system should be helping to ease the labor crunch by directing the flow of legally admitted immigrants to places that need them.

Instead, the system is so broken that Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an undocumented Mexican national, found his way into the country, then onto a farm that hired him and finally, according to the authorities, onto a road where he attacked Ms. Tibbetts, 20, while she was out for a jog July 18.

The search for Ms. Tibbetts garnered national attention, partly because of her all-American persona and partly because of the grace with which her family comported itself during the monthlong search for the University of Iowa student. Her death has inflamed the immigration debate along the usual partisan lines, but it should lead to a close examination of issues related to immigration in the heartland.

Some parts of the country have more immigrants than they need or want while others go wanting. Iowa, where unemployment hovers at under 3 percent, is among the latter even though farms there already hire migrant workers to work in vegetable fields and greenhouses and on hog and chicken operations. “This state needs more people, including immigrants,” the Des Moines Register has opined.

Immigration policy should be designed to meet workforce demands in Iowa and other parts of the country while relieving the pressure on communities with more immigrants than they want or need. The government should admit immigrants who can provide labor or skills that are in demand and settle the newcomers where needed; criminals and those coming only for social benefits need not apply.

Immigration authorities also should aim to minimize cultural clashes and prepare communities for newcomers. Just last year, tumult ensued when dozens of asylum-seeking Roma from Romania moved into California, Pa., for a short-term stay. Their arrival and customs took locals by surprise.

The public policy goal here is obvious and two-pronged: a regulated flow of thoroughly vetted legal immigrants and fair treatment for them in the places where they settle. If the government helps to ease the labor crunch, employers should expect stiff penalties when they hire undocumented workers.

Meanwhile, we have a human tragedy in Iowa. A beautiful young woman is dead. And that has to matter, and remain in our consciousness.

Ms. Tibbetts’ death shows the folly of those Democratic politicians who have called for abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It also underlines the need for the government to fix its EVerify program, which employers use to confirm a worker’s employment status.

The farm that hired Mr. Rivera about four years ago said it ran his name through E-Verify and got no red flags about his immigration status. But The Washington Post later reported that he used stolen identification to evade detection.

If a stolen driver’s license is all that’s needed for a person to game the immigration system and evade detection for years, federal officials have a job to do.

Mr. Rivera should not have been here. This horror should not have happened.

Mollie Tibbetts should not have died.