'This is a murder story, not an immigration story': Longtime Fox New commentator lashes out at network for Mollie Tibbetts coverage

Screenshot/Fox News

Fox News host Martha MacCallum and veteran commentator Geraldo Rivera

• Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera argued that his network is perpetuating damaging stereotypes of unauthorized immigrants through its coverage of the killing of a 20-year-old Iowa woman by a Mexican immigrant.
• He argued that Fox's focus on the suspect's immigration status is fueling the vilification of millions of unauthorized immigrants living in the US.
• "We at this network are putting that spin on the story," Rivera said on Fox. "This is a murder story, not an immigration story."

Veteran Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera lashed out at his own network on Thursday, arguing that Fox is perpetuating damaging stereotypes of unauthorized immigrants through its coverage of the killing of a 20-year-old Iowa woman by a Mexican immigrant.

Rivera, a conservative who has regularly spoken out against the GOP's approach to immigration, argued that the suspect, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, should not represent the millions of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the US.

And by making Mollie Tibbetts' killing an issue of immigration - rather than crime and violence against women - the commentator said Fox is adding fuel to hatred directed at immigrant communities.

"I know that most of the Fox audience disagrees with me, but I'm begging you to have compassion and not brand of this entire population by the deeds of this one person," he told Fox host Martha MacCallum on Thursday night.

MacCallum replied that Fox is not attempting to stereotype the larger immigrant community. Instead, she said, the network is pointing out that the murder suspect "shouldn't have been here" and that his immigration status "adds to" Tibbetts' family's "pain."

But Rivera said the suspect's background shouldn't be at the crux of the story, which he said is one about the death of a woman, not crime among immigrants.

"We at this network are putting that spin on the story," he said. "This is a murder story, not an immigration story."

Earlier this week, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called Democrats and the media - singling out Fox's Rivera - "accomplices" in Tibbetts' death and "the death of everyone else."

Rivera condemned Patrick's comments, defending his position that unauthorized immigrants are being unjustly vilified by conservatives.

"He is stereotyping 11 million people in our country here without documentation," Rivera said of Patrick. "They care for our babies, they mow our lawns, they wash our dishes, they pick our fruit, they pack our meat, they process our poultry."

This week, President Donald Trump used Tibbetts' killing to promote his claim that unauthorized immigrants bring "tremendous crime" into the country. He posted a video online in which he blamed the young woman's death on the country's immigration laws.

"Mollie Tibbetts, an incredible young woman, is now permanently separated from her family. ... A person came in from Mexico, illegally, and killed her," Trump said. "This is one instance of many."

Over the last few days, following the revelation that the murder suspect is undocumented, Fox and other conservative media outlets have made the story front-page news - even elevating it above their coverage of the criminal convictions of two of Trump's top former advisers, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.