Leavitt Brings Out Mother Of Daughter Slain By Illegal Migrant To Briefing
The mother of slain Maryland woman Rachel Morin left the White House press corps in stunned silence on Wednesday as she criticized Senator Chris Van Hollen for going to El Salvador to advocate for a deported alleged MS-13 gang member.
“I just don’t understand this,” Patty Morin told reporters, following a graphic account of her 37-year-old daughter’s 2023 murder. Rachel was killed by 24-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was convicted earlier this week.
Visibly emotional, Morin condemned the Maryland senator, saying it outraged her that “a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge — or barely acknowledged — my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother” would instead “use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person … who isn’t even an American citizen.”
According to the New York Post, Van Hollen visited El Salvador to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had recently been deported after being detained in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Before Patty Morin spoke, Van Hollen had claimed, “Why is the government of El Salvador continuing to imprison a man where they have no evidence that he’s committed any crime and they have not been provided any evidence from the United States that he has committed any crime?” He added, “They should just let him go.”
However, the Trump administration on Wednesday released documents identifying Abrego Garcia as a member of the now officially labeled terrorist group MS-13. Despite Van Hollen’s remarks, records also show that Abrego Garcia had been ordered removed by a federal judge for illegally entering the U.S.
Originally, the Department of Justice argued in court that Abrego Garcia had been wrongfully deported due to an October 2019 order that shielded him from removal because of threats from a rival gang in El Salvador. That filing triggered a push by Democrats to bring him back, eventually leading to an April 10 Supreme Court ruling instructing the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return and proceed with his case as if the deportation had never occurred.
In a tense exchange on Fox News, Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller accused the DOJ lawyer responsible for the filing—who has since been removed—as a “saboteur” and said the claim that ICE had wrongly deported Abrego Garcia due to an “administrative error” was baseless.
Still, during a Monday visit to the White House, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele dismissed the request to return Abrego Garcia as “preposterous.” Trump officials also emphasized that the court had not mandated them to actually “effectuate” his return.
Amid this political clash, the Department of Homeland Security disclosed on Wednesday that Abrego Garcia had been accused of domestic abuse in 2021. While there is no direct connection between Abrego Garcia and Martinez-Hernandez, Patty Morin insisted her daughter’s death highlights the urgent need to continue efforts to deport individuals living in the country illegally and accused of crimes.
“A lot of you don’t know the whole story about Rachel and about the crime that was committed against her,” Morin said at a White House press event, where she was introduced as a “special guest.”
She described chilling details from the recent trial: “We saw layer upon layer upon layer of evidence against the accused and illegal immigrant from El Salvador,” she recalled.
“He saw her. He saw that there was nobody around. He attacked her. He dragged her 150 feet, blood gushing from her head. It left a 150-foot trail of her blood to the culvert where he took he picked her up, he threw her against the wall, the tunnel, and he raped her,” Morin said, according to The Post.
In her closing remarks, she posed a pointed question: “Why are we not protecting the American citizens? It’s just common sense. Why are we not protecting our children?” she said, calling out Van Hollen for his actions.