Washington DC [US], April 17 : Patty Morin -- the mother of Rachel Morin, an American citizen who was killed by an illegal immigrant in 2023 -- delivered an emotional account of her daughter's death during a White House briefing on Wednesday (US local time).
Rachel was brutally raped and killed in August 2023 along a hiking trail in Bel Air, Maryland, by an illegal immigrant.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt used the occasion to sharply criticise the Democratic Party's immigration policies. She also condemned Maryland's Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen for reportedly flying to El Salvador, 'potentially' on taxpayer money, in connection with the deported MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
"Maryland's Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen rushed to Dulles Airport this morning to fly to El Salvador, potentially using taxpayer dollars to demand the release of deported illegal alien, MS-13 terrorist. The Democrats and the media in this room have continually and wrongly labeled Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a Maryland father. There is no Maryland father. Let me reiterate. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country... Abrego Garcia was also arrested with two other well-known members of the vicious MS-13 gang. And two separate judges found that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, and that finding has never been disputed. He will never live in the United States of America again," Leavitt said.
She added that Garcia had a "lawful deportation order" and was "subject to removal."
"The basic fact that he was illegally inside our country and had a lawful deportation order made him subject to removal back to his home country of El Salvador, and if he ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again," she stated.
Slamming the Democrat Party, Leavitt said, "It's appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens."
Introducing Patty Morin, Leavitt said, "Patty Morin, whose beautiful daughter Rachel was brutally maimed and murdered at the hands of an illegal alien in August of 2023. Patty should not have to be here today, but she is. Patty no longer has her daughter because of the failed Democrat party's open border, and these are policies that President Trump is bringing an end to."
Patty Morin then spoke about her daughter Rachel, offering a heartbreaking account of the events leading to her murder. She shared moving details of the brutal assault her daughter faced, describing the gruesome injuries that Rachel sustained.
"There wasn't one inch of her body that didn't have some kind of injury, whether it's bruising, broken bones, contusions, or scratches. She had a fractured rib, fractured nose, and fractured skull," Patty said, her voice filled with grief.
Describing the courtroom scenes, Patty Morin added, "When he (Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez) was sitting in the courtroom, he looked like he thought he was going to be set free. There was no remorse on his face at all."
She went on to share that the images of the violence her daughter endured were so disturbing that they had to be sealed to prevent her granddaughters from seeing them.
"These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country. These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country. We are American citizens. Why should we allow people like these--violent criminals, that have no conscience at all -- to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters? I don't understand why there's even any kind of problem with this," Patty Morin said.
As Patty shared the horrors her daughter faced, the White House briefing room fell silent. It was a somber moment, and when the floor was opened for questions, no one asked anything. The room was filled with a heavy sense of reflection as the gravity of Patty's testimony left everyone in attendance deeply moved.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a fugitive from El Salvador, was convicted on Monday in the case, as reported by CNN. Rachel Morin was killed along a hiking trail in Bel Air in August of 2023, according to authorities.
The remarks from Patty Morin and White House Press Secretary Leavitt come amid political tensions over immigration policy, following criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the Abrego Garcia case by Democrats.