The father of slain Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts has thanked the Hispanic community for its support during the long search for his daughter. A Mexican farmworker suspected of being in the U.S. illegally has been charged in Tibbetts’ death. Speaking Sunday at a ceremony for his daughter, Rob Tibbetts didn’t directly address comments by President Donald Trump and others who seized upon the suspect’s citizenship to argue for changes in U.S. immigration laws.

However, The Des Moines Register reports Tibbetts said that in the weeks he was searching for his daughter, he encountered Hispanics in Brooklyn, Iowa, who were sensitive and kind. He says members of the Hispanic community have “the same values as Iowans,” and that he considers them “Iowans with better food.”