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US official: No record Rivera has legal status

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August 22nd, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Immigration authorities say they have no record of granting admission into the United States to the man suspected of killing an Iowa college student. A spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday that a search of the agency’s records found nothing indicating that Cristhian Bahena Rivera “has any immigration status.”

That potentially contradicts the statement of Rivera’s attorney that he “has the legal documents” to work in the United States. Rivera is accused of killing 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts. His immigration status has drawn national attention, and the White House has said Tibbetts’ death has underscored the need for immigration restrictions proposed by President Donald Trump.

The manager of a dairy farm that employed the man charged with killing an Iowa college student says he has received dozens of threatening phone messages and other contacts in the last 24 hours, including death threats. Dane Lang, manager of Yarrabee Farms in Brooklyn, Iowa, says one person threatened to kill his dog and another said he would burn down his farm buildings. Lang says, “this is a really scary situation.” Lang says the farm employed Cristhian Bahena Rivera for four years but knew him by a different name, which he did not disclose.

A judge has ordered Rivera to be jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond. He had been held since Tuesday on a $1 million cash-only bond after being charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts. At a hearing Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Diane Crookham-Johnson granted a state prosecutor’s request to raise the bond amount to $5 million.