(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) After his sister was raped and strangled to death by a Salvadoran who was illegally in the country, Maryland resident Michael Morin said former President Donald Trump called his family. They have still never heard from President Joe Biden, he said Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention.
“Last year, we lost my beloved sister Rachel,” he said. “She went for a walk in one of our family’s favorite places. This beautiful trail was to us a safe place where we pushed our babies and strollers, where we walk together as a family, where my wife and I got married, near what would later become the spot where my sister’s body was found. Rachel, a joyful, accomplished athlete and mother of five, was raped and murdered” he said, by a Salvadoran national and MS-13 gang member who illegally entered the country multiple times.
The first three times the Salvadoran was caught by Border Patrol agents and returned to Mexico. The fourth time he illegally entered, he evaded capture, joining two million gotaways who’ve illegally entered under the Biden administration, The Center Square reported. Officially reported internal gotaway data totals are considered to be underreported by between 10% and 20%, authorities have told The Center Square, adding that they have no idea how many, who, or where they are. They also express concerns about how many violent criminals and potential terrorists entered as gotaways and are living in the country.
Rachel’s murder “was described as among the most brutal and violent offenses that has ever occurred in Harford County, Maryland, history,” Morin said. “Open borders are often portrayed as compassionate and virtuous but there is nothing compassionate about allowing violent criminals into our country and robbing children of their mother.
“My sister’s death was preventable. The monster arrested for killing Rachel entered the US unlawfully after killing a woman in El Salvador. Joe Biden and his designated ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris opened our borders to him and others like him empowering them to victimize the innocent. Yet to this day, we have not heard from Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. They never apologized.
“When Rachel was killed, President Trump called my family to offer his condolences. He wanted to meet with us. He cared. That is leadership. And we need real leadership back in the White House.”
Last month, Harford County, Maryland, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced the findings of a 10-month investigation into Rachel’s murder after she was killed in August 2023 near Bel Air, Maryland. The perpetrator illegally entered the U.S. through the southwest border in early 2023 and was apprehended at least three times by Border Patrol agents – twice in January in New Mexico and Texas and once in February in New Mexico, according to reports confirmed by The Center Square. Each time, he was processed for removal and returned to Mexico.
On his fourth attempt, he illegally entered the U.S. and evaded capture, making his way into California. By March 2023, he allegedly assaulted a woman and her child in a home invasion and fled the scene. Los Angeles police collected DNA evidence but only had a description of the assailant, not a name.
Through DNA evidence and other work, investigators in Maryland and the LAPD linked the two crimes.
“Once in our country, and likely emboldened by his anonymity, he brutally attacked a nine-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles … that was our first DNA match linking Rachel’s case to the one in Los Angeles,” Gahler said.
Working with federal law enforcement partners, investigators were able to locate the alleged perpetrator, 23-year-old Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
Investigators also learned he fled El Salvador, where he allegedly murdered a young woman before he illegally entered the U.S.
In July, Martinez Hernandez was indicted by a grand jury. He faces first and second-degree murder charges, as well as rape, sexual offenses, and kidnapping charges.
“We are 1,800 miles off the southern border. And American citizens are not safe because of their failed immigration policies,” Gahler said, referring to the White House and Congress. “This is the second time in two years that an innocent Harford County woman has lost her life to a criminal in our country illegally. In both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs. This should not be happening.”
Violent Salvadorans and MS-13 gang members are continuing to be arrested in the U.S., The Center Square reported. Violent crimes are continuing to be committed by Venezuelans released into the U.S. under the Biden administration, including violent gang members who are later arrested thousands of miles from the border, The Center Square reported. Nationwide, officials have reported on home invasions allegedly being perpetrated by criminals from Columbia and Chile, The Center Square has reported.
Michael Morin said, “for all those affected by senseless tragedy, I pray for peace. I pray that we hold worldly leaders accountable for safety and justice for innocent people. I pray that we make our country safe and secure in the memory of my sister Rachel who loved life.”
