Former President Donald Trump’s call to the mother of a Maryland woman allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant mirrored his outreach to “angel families” during the 2016 election, an effective tactic that made the border issue personal and central to his campaign.
President Trump expressed his support for the Maureen family during a roughly 20-minute telephone conversation on Thursday with Patty Maureen, the mother of Rachel Maureen, the 37-year-old mother of five who was allegedly murdered last year by an illegal immigrant who entered the United States as a “fugitive.”
In a press release issued through her lawyer, Patty Morin said she was “deeply touched by President Trump’s kindness and thoughtfulness.”
“He was sincere and genuinely wanted to know how our family was coping,” she added. “He asked about Rachel and expressed his sincere sympathy for her untimely death. His words have given me comfort during this extremely difficult time.”
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Victor Hernandez Martinez (right) is accused of raping and murdering Rachel Morin on Aug. 5, 2023, in Bel Air, Maryland. (Hartford County Sheriff’s Office/Tulsa Police Department)
The call was one of many that President Trump has made to families battling similar issues, offering hope and compassion to those who have lost family members and loved ones to the heinous acts of people who have entered the United States illegally in recent years.
In February, President Trump reached out to the parents of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was brutally murdered allegedly by an illegal immigrant, describing them as “incredible people” who were “devastated” by their daughter’s untimely death.
“A beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia was brutally attacked. She was out for her morning jog. A beautiful young woman,” the former president said during a visit to the southern border. “I spoke to her parents yesterday, they are wonderful people. They are incredibly devastated. She was so beautiful in so many ways.”
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump sought to bring the issue to national attention amid a string of American deaths blamed on illegal immigration.
The shooting death of Kate Steinle in July 2015 sparked a national debate about illegal immigration and so-called “sanctuary cities.” Steinle, 32, was shot and killed by Jose Inés García Zárate while walking with her father and a family friend on Pier 14 in San Francisco.
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Kate Steinle’s parents, James Steinle and Liz Sullivan, at their home in Livermore, California. (Michael McCaul/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Garcia Zarate, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was later acquitted of murder charges, had been deported five times at the time Steinle was shot and was facing deportation for a sixth time. Trump later called the Steinle murder trial’s acquittal a “disgrace” and claimed it was “no wonder” Americans were “so angry about illegal immigration.”
At a campaign rally in April 2016, Trump invited several “angel families” — a term used to describe relatives of people killed by illegal immigrants in the United States — onto the stage to share his thoughts on the issue and show off photos of their lost loved ones.
At one point, Trump handed the microphone to Jamir Shaw, whose son had been killed the previous day by an illegal immigrant who had been released from prison on firearms charges.
At the time, Shaw highlighted the fact that his son was “murdered by an illegal immigrant on a third gun charge,” and said, “We demand Americans first.”
On April 28, 2016, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called onto the stage a group of people whose relatives had been killed by illegal immigrants at a campaign rally in Costa Mesa, California. (David McNew/AFP via Getty Images)
At the rally, Trump called Shaw an “amazing man” and argued that people like him “all have a very similar story” in that they had their families taken from them by “people who should never have been here, people who should never have been allowed across the border.”
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Trump’s support for the families and his pledge to “stop” illegal immigrants from killing innocent Americans won him the support of Shaw and many like him ahead of the 2016 election.
