The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency confirmed to Fox News’ Bill Melgin that the illegal immigrant who allegedly killed Rachel Morin, a mother of five from Maryland, entered the US as a “fugitive.”
In a statement to Fox News, ICE confirmed that Morin’s suspected killer was arrested three times by Border Patrol within a few days of each other in January and early February 2023 and was deported to Mexico under Title 42 each time.
James Covington, a spokesman for ICE’s Office of Enforcement and Deportation, said the suspect successfully entered the country as a fugitive., meaning he I input it Without inspection, admission or parole by U.S. immigration officials, “Around February 13, 2023” near El Paso.
“On June 14, officers from the Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Department and FBI agents arrested Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a 23-year-old undocumented Salvadoran national who was wanted by authorities in Harford County, Maryland for the murder of Rachel Morin on Aug. 6, 2023,” Covington said.
Rachel Morin murder case: Illegal immigrant suspect to be extradited to Maryland this week
Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Rachel Morin. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office)
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed an immigration detention order against Martinez-Hernandez with the Tulsa County Jail on June 15, 2024. On June 20, 2024, authorities in Tulsa, Oklahoma successfully extradited Martinez-Hernandez to Harford County, Maryland. Martinez-Hernandez currently remains in the Harford County Jail while awaiting trial,” he continued.
Martinez-Hernandez was arrested on June 14 after a 10-month investigation into Morin’s murder.
He was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
Rachel Morin murder: Illegal immigrant from El Salvador charged with raping, murdering Maryland mother of five
A photo of Rachel Morin is posted to a tree along the Mama & Papa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on Aug. 10, 2023. The 37-year-old was murdered while hiking the trail. (Mega from Fox News Digital)
“We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim,” Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said in announcing the arrest. “My understanding is that this suspect, this monster, brutally murdered a young woman and then illegally fled to the United States. El Salvador It will be one month earlier, in January 2023.”
Maureen, 37, was reported missing in August by her boyfriend, who said she had gone for a run on the Mama and Pa Trail in Bel Air, a quiet and usually safe town, and never returned. Northeast of Baltimore, August 5, 2023.
After Martinez-Hernandez’s arrest was announced, Gahler slammed the Biden administration’s “failed immigration policies.”
Rachel Morin murder: Maryland sheriff says open borders gave illegal immigrants “permission” to kill mother of five
On the left is illegal immigrant Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, on the top right is Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, and on the bottom right is Rachel Morin. (Tulsa Police Department | Fox News | Facebook)
“We are 1,800 miles from the southern border,” Gahler said, “and the American people are not safe because of failed immigration policies.”
“For the second time in two years, an innocent woman in Harford County has had her life wrongfully taken by criminals in our country,” he reiterated in the statement. “In both cases, the suspect was a Salvadoran national with ties to organized crime. This should not happen.”
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Martinez-Hernandez remains incarcerated in the Harford County Jail while awaiting trial.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Baille Hill contributed to this report.
