The mother of a Maryland woman who police say was raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant slammed President Biden’s indifference to the nation’s border crisis in an emotional interview with Fox News Digital.
“It’s as if they’re acting as if immigration issues don’t exist and as if people aren’t being hurt and killed by their policies,” Patty Morin said. “The casualties are not just those who are killed, but the loved ones they leave behind. This is devastating to communities.”
Her daughter, Rachel Morin, 37, was raped, assaulted and strangled on a hiking trail in Maryland in August 2023, leaving her five children motherless.
After a nationwide manhunt, police arrested Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, a Salvadoran national and suspected gang member, at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last week and extradited him to Maryland.
Rachel Morin’s murder suspect denied bail appears in court
The mother of Patty Maureen has slammed President Biden for not taking the country’s migrant crisis seriously after her daughter, Rachel Maureen, was allegedly raped and murdered by Victor Martinez Hernandez, who entered the country illegally. (Facebook/Getty/Baltimore Sun)
Patty said the loss of her daughter has left her in emotional turmoil.
“It feels like a candle has just been blown out,” she said of Rachel’s death. “Candles are being blown out all across America.”
Rachel’s case is one of many high-profile cases that have brought immigration to the forefront of the national agenda and stoked fears about the millions of migrants streaming across the border.
In recent months, immigrants who entered the United States illegally have been charged with a series of violent crimes, including the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Texas, the rape of a 13-year-old girl in New York City and the murder of a nursing student in Georgia.
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Patty Morin poses with her daughter, Rachel Morin, who was raped and murdered. (Courtesy of Patty Morin)
At Martinez-Hernandez’s initial appearance in Harford County District Court on Friday, prosecutors alleged that he dragged Rachel off the Mama & Papa Heritage Trail in Bel Air and beat her so severely that she suffered more than 10 cuts to her head. Her body, found in a drainage tunnel, was covered in bruises.
Patty and other relatives watched from the gallery as Martinez-Hernandez’s face was shown on a television in the courtroom.
“I couldn’t control my emotions,” she said. “I couldn’t bear the pain.” [of seeing him]”
The suspect fled his home country in February 2023 after he was accused of murdering a woman in his home country the previous month and had an arrest warrant out for him.
He tried and failed three times to enter the United States before crossing the border.
“She must have known she couldn’t survive. I’m sure she was thinking about her children. She must have felt very helpless.”
Police say the suspect assaulted a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a robbery in Los Angeles in March 2023, months before Rachel was killed.
“We have an immigration crisis,” Patty said. “I’m not against immigration, but we can’t just open our front door and let in strangers off the street. We screen them at the door. Who are you? Why are you here? We find out about them and determine if they’re safe before we let them into our home. Our country shouldn’t act any differently.”
Rachel Morin murder: Maryland sheriff says open borders gave illegal immigrants “permission” to kill mother of five
Victor Martinez Hernandez is accused of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a mother of five, on Aug. 5, 2023, in Maryland. (Tulsa Police Department/Facebook)
Rachel’s boyfriend reported her missing in May after she went hiking in Harford County and never returned. Her car was found in the area and her bludgeoned body was discovered nearby a short time later.
Investigators said Martinez-Hernandez was under a nationwide manhunt from December 2023 to May 2024, after which he left Maryland without notice.
He left behind a bag containing clothing from which detectives were able to collect DNA evidence that matched genetic material taken from the crime scene.
Patty, who lives in Harford County, said she is tormented by thoughts of her daughter’s final moments.
“She must have known she couldn’t survive,” she said, crying. “She must have been thinking about her children and everything she had to lose, and that this was going to be the end of her life. She must have felt helpless.”
Rachel Morin murder case: Ex-FBI agent reveals details of arrest of illegal immigrant accused of murder
Rachel Morin was dragged off a hiking trail and murdered on August 5, 2023. (Handouts for families)
Pati said Biden has not shown enough interest in the plight of people affected by illegal immigrants who entered the country on his watch, and that she has yet to hear from Biden’s office.
“President Biden has shown zero interest in any voice expressed by the American people on this issue,” she told Fox News Digital. “It’s like he sits in his ivory tower and we just sit there. He’s not connected to the public.”
Patty said former President Trump contacted her to discuss Rachel’s death.
“Trump was actually a very sincere person,” she said. “You could hear it in his voice. He sounded genuinely concerned, as if he had experienced a loss himself.”
The murder of Rachel Morin is eerily similar to the murder of a woman who was killed by a stranger while out jogging.
Richard Tobin, far left, reported his girlfriend, Rachel Morin, missing before her body was discovered. (Facebook)
She said the approach is a counterweight to what she sees as the current administration’s indifference to her case and the issue of illegal immigration in general.
“As a mother, it’s natural to want to protect your children,” she said. “It’s our instinct to nurture and protect our children. It makes me very sad and disturbing to see the government turn a blind eye and not protect my children while I feel helpless and scared.”
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Martinez-Hernandez’s court-appointed lawyer, Amy Valdivia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
