The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday.
Patty Morin’s appearance comes as her senator, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident and El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang.
“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.”
Patty Morin (L), mother of Rachel Morin, speaks as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt looks on during a daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
A jury in the Harford County Circuit court found Victor Martinez-Hernandez, originally from El Salvador guilty on all counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping.
Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. However, following Martinez-Hernandez’s conviction, Van Hollen issued a statement vowing to bolster border security while also “supporting our immigrant communities.”
“While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice.”
Martinez-Hernandez attacked Rachel Morin, 37, in August 2023 on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a trail Patty Morin said the family had walked for 25 years as Maryland residents.
DEMOCRATS PRIORITIZING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OVER CITIZENS IS ‘MIND-BOGGLING,’ WHITE HOUSE SAYS
A jury convicted Victor Martinez-Hernandez on Monday for savagely raping and murdering mother of five Rachel Morin in Maryland Aug. 5, 2023. (Tulsa Police Department/ Facebook)
“When she went on that trail that day, she was not planning on dying. She wasn’t planning on walking to her death,” Patty Morin told reporters. “She was planning on going to the grocery store with her girls afterwards. Victor Martinez, he waited for her. He waited for her to come closer. He saw her. He saw that there was nobody around, he attacked her. He dragged her 150 feet, blood gushing from her head.”
Patty Morin shared with the press the horrific details of her daughter’s murder, including how Martinez-Hernandez raped and strangled her daughter after crushing her skull like an “eggshell.”
Patty Morin said photos of the brutal attack show that not “one inch” of her daughter’s body remained free from injury. These photos have since been sealed because they are so graphic, she said.
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“You could see where the blood ran down around her as he was raping her, and then he threw her down, and raped her some more, and then he strangled her because he didn’t want her to be able to live to tell the story,” Patty Morin said.
Patty Morin also shared that Martinez-Hernandez did not appear to express any remorse in the courtroom for his actions.
“These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country,” Patty Morin said. “These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country. We are American citizens. Why should we allow people like this, violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?”
Patty Morin also urged the press to not sanitize their news coverage of her daughter’s death.
“Please tell the truth,” she said. “Tell how violent it really is. This is about protecting our children. It’s more than just politics or votes or anything, it’s about national security.”
Meanwhile, Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday in an attempt to meet with Garcia. The Trump administration’s Justice Department admitted that it deported Garcia in an “administrative error.”
BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland visited El Salvador on Wednesday on behalf of El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration has accused Garcia of having ties to the MS-13 gang. (Getty)
Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s order that “requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
While Van Hollen met with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay during his trip, he was not permitted to visit Garcia at the prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT). However, Van Hollen told reporters he would continue to try to meet with him in the future.
“I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.”
Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.