HARFORD COUNTY, MD. (WBFF) — With Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case in the national spotlight, Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, responded Wednesday, critcizing Senator Chris Van Hollen’s recent visit to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, a man from El Salvador, who was living in Maryland, was mistakenly deported. The Trump Administration has argued he has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys have argued he has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen recently visited El Salvador, to push for Abrego Garcia’s release. He has argued Abrego Garcia’s due process rights have been violated.
However, during a press briefing Wednesday at the White House, Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, spoke out.
“Why are we not protecting the American citizens? It’s just common sense, why are we not protecting our children,” Morin said.
Rachel Morin was brutally murdered while on the Ma and Pa trail in Harford County back in 2023. Victor Martinez-Hernandez was recently found guilty of her murder. Martinez-Hernandez was from El Salvador and was in the county illegally.
“To have a Senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledged my daughter and the brutal death she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother, so he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American Citizen,” Patty Morin said Wednesday during the press briefing.
“Why does that person have more right than I do? Or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t understand this,” Morin continued.
Along the Ma and Pa trail, where Rachel Morin was attacked and killed, the Garcia case has residents in Harford County split.
“If you are a member of MS-13 and they have proved you have committed crimes, I personally think you should not be here,” said resident Phil Greenberg.
“I have mixed feelings about it,” said resident William Brandt. “I am all for deporting criminals, especially felons, I don’t think that individual has been convicted of anything though.”
Through various court filings, the Trump Administration admitted it was a mistake to deport Abrego Garcia to El Salvador and in a 9-0 order, the U.S. Supreme Court said the United States must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. In the days since however, several top Trump Administration officials said Abrego Garcia would not be coming back to the United States.
“He is not coming back to our country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this week. “There was no situation ever where he would stay in this country.”
