Rachel Morin's Death Blamed on Border Policies

June 27, 2024

A group called Building America's Future stated their plans to make a video saying that border policies are having devastating repercussions, calling it a "nightmare." Of particular focus is the murder and rape of Rachel Morin by illegal immigrant Victor Martinez-Hernandez. The video says that illegal immigrants committing crimes "just keeps happening." An ad also said that "No one is safe from the illegal immigrants Joe Biden has let into our country."

Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, said that "they’re pretending these immigration problems don’t exist and people aren’t being harmed and killed," and that "The victims are those that are being killed but also their loved ones," which is "devastating to the community." She also said that "they don't value life."

At 12:30 p.m. local time (1730 UTC) on Thursday, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was reported to have left Tulsa, Oklahoma and arrived in Maryland to face charges. He is currently at the Harford County Detention Center.

On Friday, he was arrested at a bar in Tulsa for the rape and murder of Rachel Morin in addition to other crimes. The arrest was announced on Saturday. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Scott Duffey said that a had allowed them to identify the criminal.

The murder and rape of Morin occurred ten months prior in August of last year. It is, according to Harford County State Attorney Allison Healey, one of the most brutal offenses to occur in Harford County. Morin was reported to have been strangled and beaten.

Governor of Maryland said that "My heart is broken for the Morin family — as is our entire state," and that "we have got to fix a broken immigration policy. And we know that we need Congress to act on this." Randolph Rice, an attorney representing the family of the victim said that "Rachel would be alive today if politicians would stop this flow of illegal immigrants." said that he wanted the suspected murderer to "die in [the] Maryland prison system" and that it was the second murder by an illegal immigrant in Harford County in the past two years. He also said that "we are 1,800 miles away from the southern border, and the American citizens are not safe because of failed immigration policies." Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly complained that "this crazy immigration policy is really evil and allowed this terrible guy to come in here and destroy this for so many people" and that the "idiocy" of border policies had to be reversed. He also added that "we can't possibly police this country with a totally porous border." Donald Trump called Patty Morin, Rachel Morin's mother, who was "deeply touched by President Trump’s kindness and concern." Trump earlier said of immigrants that they're bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists" although some "are good people."

Morin was a 37 year old mother to five children and lived in the state of Maryland. Martinez-Hernandez is a 23 year old illegal immigrant from El Salvador where authorities say that he murdered a young girl in January 2023. He is also said to invaded a Los Angeles home in March last year, injuring a mother and her nine year old daughter.