Angel Mom Patty Morin blasted one of her senators, Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), for flying to El Salvador in an effort to bring a suspected MS-13 gang member back to the United States.
Van Hollen notably traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday, seeking the return of Kilmar Abrega Garcia, who Democrats contend was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration.
Morin–whose daughter Rachel Morin was raped, bludgeoned, and murdered by MS-13 alien Antonio Martinez-Hernandez in 2023–ripped Van Hollen during an end of day press briefing alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“And to have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledged my daughter, and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother, and now a grandbaby without a grandmother, so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring someone back that’s not even an American citizen: Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter, or my grandchildren?” Morin said. “I don’t understand this.”
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. However, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has equated bringing Abrego Garcia back to smuggling a terrorist into the United States, while the Trump administration has emphasized they do not have the authority to retrieve him from El Salvador without the government’s consent.
.@nayibbukele: "The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don't have the power to return him to the United States." pic.twitter.com/PyrXqO4bvJ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 14, 2025
.@POTUS, @AGPamBondi, and Deputy Chief of Staff @StephenM destroy Fake News CNN pic.twitter.com/y9c1imt7Af
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 14, 2025
Morin also shared horrific details of her daughter’s murder that she learned during Martinez-Hernandez’s trial this month, which resulted in a conviction after less than an hour of jury deliberations.
On August 5, 2023, Rachel Morin went for a walk at the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, in Harford County. She never returned, and her remains were discovered the following day on the side of the trail.
Patty Morin told reporters that Martinez-Hernandez “waited” for Rachel to get closer before launching his attack. After bludgeoning her at least 20 times with rocks that are stained with Rachel’s blood to this day, Martinez-Hernandez dragged rachel into a tunnel and raped her, Patty said.
He ultimately strangled Rachel to death.
“These are the kind of people that have no compulsion. To them, this is nothing,” she said.
Leavitt thanked Morin for sharing her story at the end of the briefing.
“I just want to say that as a mother and as an American citizen, the president and our entire team, and I hope people in this room, are grateful for your willingness to come here and your request to share your daughter’s story,” she told Morin. “I think the country hears you loud and clear.”
