Rachel Morin’s family says they are “thankful” for President-elect Trump’s commitment to making border security “a national priority” after an illegal immigrant allegedly murdered Morin while she was out jogging on a pedestrian trail last year.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a 23-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador, is accused of brutally attacking and killing the 37-year-old mother of five on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland — an affluent Baltimore suburb north of the city — in August 2023.
“We are thankful for the support from Mr. Trump and to see border security elevated as a national priority,” Patty Morin, Rachel’s mother, said in a Monday statement. “We believe Rachel’s story played a role in highlighting the urgent need for reforms that will make America safer. We are relieved knowing that Mr. Trump’s commitment to common sense border security will work to ensure that no other family will have to suffer the same tragic loss.”
The Morin family spoke alongside Trump at a number of campaign locations ahead of the election, including a stop at the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County, Arizona, in August — about a year after Morin’s death.
WATCH: BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE OF MIGRANT ACCUSED IN RAPE, MURDER OF MARYLAND MOM RACHEL MORIN
A photo of Rachel Morin is posted to a tree by her family last night along the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. The 37-year-old was murdered while hiking the trail. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
“The Morins have always believed in the value of spotlighting the border crisis,” Randolph Rice, the family’s attorney, said. “Now, with the election of a leader who shares their belief, they can begin to heal, knowing that Rachel’s legacy will contribute to meaningful change. They look forward to Mr. Trump’s administration taking immediate action to protect our American communities.”
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT INDICTED FOR RACHEL MORIN’S MURDER IN ‘CRUCIAL STEP’: FAMILY LAWYER
U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump comforts Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered by an undocumented migrant, at the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 22, 2024 south of Sierra Vista, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble)
The family hopes Trump’s border policies will prevent future tragedies involving suspects who entered the United States illegally.
Martinez-Hernandez was apprehended in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and faces charges of first-degree murder, rape and kidnapping, in connection with Morin’s death.
MARYLAND SHERIFF’S ‘GUT’ SAYS RACHEL MORIN WAS ‘STALKED’ BY SUSPECT BEFORE HER MURDER
Patty Morin, whose daughter was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, testifies during a House Committee on Homeland Security at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 18, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Authorities have labeled him a potential serial killer after his alleged involvement in a slew of crimes against women in Central America and the United States, and prosecutors are seeking a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the suspect.
Investigators tied DNA found at the scene of Morin’s murder to DNA found inside a Los Angeles residence after a home invasion in March of last year.
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Despite the DNA match linking the two cases, however, authorities were unable to find an identity match for the DNA samples collected from either crime scene because it was not previously logged in the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) system, where authorities log DNA samples of offenders arrested in the United States.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, arrives in Maryland. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in Rachel Morin’s death on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Getty Images)
“We are 1,800 miles from the southern border,” Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said in June while announcing the suspect’s arrest. “And American citizens are not safe because of their failed immigration policies.”
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In what many political pundits have described as a crisis, millions of migrants flooded into the United States during the Biden administration as numbers skyrocketed in 2021 and remained at record highs through 2022 and 2023.
Numbers dropped sharply in June after Biden limited entries, although migrants have continued to come into the United States via a broad use of humanitarian parole.
While numbers are now down at the border, 2024 has seen a series of high-profile crimes by illegal immigrant suspects, some of whom were allowed into the U.S. under the administration.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
