Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, went for a jog in her quiet Maryland community on Aug. 5, 2023, and never returned home.
Police discovered her brutally murdered body stuffed into a culvert, and after a months-long investigation, identified her suspected killer as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was also accused of a murder in his home country and the rape of a mother and her 9-year-old daughter in Los Angeles.
The case had attracted national attention even before the suspect was identified as Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a 23-year-old migrant from El Salvador. After the attack, former President Donald Trump offered condolences to the families and invited Morin's mother, Patty, and other relatives of the victims to visit the southern border.
The House Judiciary Committee called the same family to testify before Congress.
Photograph of Senator Nadler with his head bowed and eyes closed during testimony from mothers of immigrant crime victims
Rachel Morin was dragged off a hiking trail on August 5, 2023 and brutally murdered. (Handouts for families)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the committee's top Democrat, appeared to doze off at one point, closing his eyes and bowing his head, frustrating onlookers.More than a year after the murders, neither President Biden nor Vice President Harris have contacted the families, Patty Morin told Fox News Digital.
“This says a lot about the Democratic Party as a whole,” said Kathy Gronewald, Maureen's church friend who took the photo. “They thought we were using this as a stunt, or that the Republicans were using it as a stunt, and it's unfortunate, but these women are drawing attention to a serious issue.”
Biden-Harris open border policy illegally lifted 3 weeks before Jocelyn Nangaray's murder, mother says
Patty Morin said she went to the Capitol to get lawmakers to take the border crisis more seriously: If normal procedures had been followed, such as DNA testing and taking photos of Martinez-Hernandez after she was stopped at the border, her daughter might have survived.
Patty Morin (right) testified before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., about border policies and her daughter's death in Harford County. Alexis Nungarei (left) testified about her daughter's murder in Houston. (Jeff Barker/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
That's because Interpol already had an arrest warrant for him in connection with the death of another woman.
“Some of you may not care because you think this is a partisan issue, but these are American citizens,” Morin told lawmakers at the hearing. “We need to close the border. … If people are coming across the border illegally, it's because they have something to hide.”
She said immigrants who enter through legal procedures will be vetted to protect both themselves and Americans.
Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, arrived in Maryland and was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the death of Rachel Morin on the Mama & Papa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/Getty Images)
“I just left the southern border,” she continued. “When I talked to border patrol agents, they showed me gunshot wounds. They told me stories of broken necks, broken spines, broken skulls. It's a war zone and we need to close it down. We need to get policies in place that keep our people safe.”
She has spoken publicly for the first time about surviving being kidnapped as a child in an effort to persuade lawmakers to do something about the threat of violence against women.
Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Victims of Illegal Immigrant Crimes Testify at House Hearing
Former President Donald Trump comforts Patty Maureen, the mother of Rachel Maureen, who was killed by police allegedly an illegal immigrant on the U.S.-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista, Arizona, on August 22, 2024. (Rebecca Noble)
Trump meets with Rachel Maureen's family at the border
“The suffering I endured as a teenager at the hands of a psychopathic man is nothing compared to the horror my daughter has suffered because of an open border,” she told lawmakers.
She testified that her daughter had been so badly abused that she was unrecognizable even after undertakers tried to dress her for the funeral.
“I wanted them to know that I spoke from a victim's perspective and understood at least a little bit about what my daughter went through and the importance of speaking up and advocating for her and for women who don't have a voice in America,” he said. “Women are literally being attacked every day, and yet they're downplaying the immigration issue as if it's nothing.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, bows his head and closes his eyes during congressional testimony from mothers of murder victims, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Kathy Groenewald)
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But after the hearing, Morin told Fox News Digital he didn't think he was heard, that few Democrats questioned witnesses, he accused Nadler of falling asleep and said he felt insulted by the behavior of Rep. Eric Swalwell, R-Calif.
“What I really want to say is I want the American people, the members of Congress, the senators, the president — everybody to listen to our voices, our words, what we have to say, and take it to heart,” she said. “It's hard to get this message across to them in words, because they already have this mindset that this is a political issue, that you're either for immigration or against immigration. I don't think Americans are against immigration if it's done right.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
