The mother of murdered Maryland woman Rachel Morin left the White House press corps in stunned silence Wednesday as she blasted her home state senator, Chris Van Hollen, for traveling to El Salvador to bring back a deported alleged MS-13 gang member.
“I just don’t understand this,” Patty Morin told reporters after graphically detailing the brutal 2023 murder of her 37-year-old daughter by 24-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant who was convicted of the crime on Monday.
Morin said she was incensed 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” chose to “use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person … who isn’t even an American citizen.”
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported last month after being apprehended in Prince George’s County, just outside Washington, D.C., the New York Post reported.
“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?” Before Morin took the briefing room podium, Van Hollen made false claims to reporters. “They should just let him go.”
The Trump administration on Wednesday released several case files on Abrego Garcia, clearly identifying him as a member of the now-terrorist-designated MS-13 group. In addition, despite Van Hollen’s assertion, Abrego Garcia committed the crime of entering the U.S. illegally and had a deportation order from a federal judge.
The Justice Department initially claimed in court filings that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported, citing an October 2019 court order that had protected him from removal due to fears of violence from a rival gang in El Salvador.
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But during a fiery back-and-forth on Tuesday with Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, top Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller said the DOJ attorney — since dismissed — was a “saboteur” who improperly claimed in court documents that Abrego was abducted by ICE due to an “administrative error.”
The Justice Department’s initial filing sparked a Democrat-led effort to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., culminating in an April 10 Supreme Court ruling that directed the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return and ensure his case is handled as it would have been had he not been wrongly deported.
However, during a visit to the White House on Monday, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele dismissed the idea of returning Abrego Garcia as “preposterous.” The Trump administration has also pointed out that the court stopped short of requiring them to “effectuate” his return.
Amid the ongoing public relations battle over Abrego Garcia’s case, the Department of Homeland Security revealed Wednesday that he was accused of physically abusing his wife in 2021. While there is no known connection between Abrego Garcia and Martinez-Hernandez, Patty Morin said her daughter’s murder underscores the importance of continuing Trump’s efforts to deport alleged criminals living in the U.S. illegally.
“A lot of you don’t know the whole story about Rachel and about the crime that was committed against her,” said Morin, listed as a “special guest” at a White House briefing that was added to Wednesday’s briefing.
At the just-completed trial, “we saw layer upon layer upon layer of evidence against the accused and illegal immigrant from El Salvador,” she said.
“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,” the grieving mother said, The Post noted.
“Why are we not protecting the American citizens? It’s just common sense. Why are we not protecting our children?” she asked while berating Van Hollen.
