Patricia Morin, the mother of the late Rachel Morin, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant, cannot understand why federal lawmakers who represent Maryland are trying to return an alleged MS-13 gang member who was deported.
After the murder, nobody from the Biden administration reached out to her family, she told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" on Wednesday.
"Not even our senator who's promoting this thing about going to El Salvador to rescue a criminal, a criminal, and have nothing to do with Maryland citizens or protecting American citizens," Morin said. "They're protecting a criminal."
Garcia has no criminal record and has never been charged with a crime in the U.S. or El Salvador, according to a CBS report and other media sources.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Monday he is prepared to travel to El Salvador if deported former Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not returned to the United States. Van Hollen said he has officially requested a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who was in the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump.
Garcia was deported in what someone in the Justice Department has said was a mistake based on court rulings about the man's presence in the country. The Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration must "facilitate" Garcia's return to the U.S.
Rachel Morin was a 37-year-old mother of five out for a jog in Maryland in August 2023 when she was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador with ties to the MS-13 gang.
Morin said that Garcia's case has nothing to do with her daughter's, but it could impact someone else's daughter, "especially since they have proven that he's an MS-13 gang member, that he's related to that gang."
NBC News reported that the federal judge presiding over the case seeking Garcia's return to the U.S. said the gang membership charge came from “a singular unsubstantiated allegation.”
"They're a very violent gang," she said. "They do these kind of crimes all the time. So, why are you doing everything you can to rescue an illegal immigrant?
"He's committed a federal crime by being here. And then you're protecting someone that's a known gang member and the gang is known for violence and a whole bunch of other crimes. You're promoting and using that person as, this is our standard, this is what we stand for: It's a very loud message that they do not care about people in Maryland, their constituents — they do not care about the American people.
"The only thing they care about is whatever their left politics are, and they are so out of touch with the American people."
When the jury returned a guilty verdict against Hernandez this week, Morin said she was "relieved" the members saw how brutal her daughter's murder was.
"I don't want to say I was happy, because I was feeling so sad and so angry that my daughter had died so brutally, like, so brutally, but, at the same time, I was so relieved that they saw the violence that this man had committed against my daughter, and that it was irrefutable evidence," she said. "It was like layer upon layer upon layer to get to this conviction so we could finally have, in some respect, an end to this. It's been a long, just a long nightmare that you just carry and you keep carrying it because there's no end to it."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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