The mom of a Maryland girl who was killed by a person who entered the nation illegally addressed reporters on the White Home on Wednesday because the Trump administration seeks to go on offense over the case of a person who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel’s 2023 killing grew to become a flashpoint within the presidential marketing campaign final 12 months, was a “special guest” of the White Home at a beforehand unscheduled briefing with reporters.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt opened the briefing by criticizing Democrats for his or her outrage over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man the administration had acknowledged in court docket paperwork it mistakenly deported to a infamous El Salvador jail.
In her remarks to reporters, Patty Morin argued that deporting these within the nation illegally was a matter of widespread sense and placing U.S. residents first.
“Why should we allow violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?” Patty Morin said. “We are American citizens. We need to protect our families, our borders, our children.”
Patty Morin shared graphic particulars about her daughter’s loss of life and the way she was violently attacked. Her killer, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, was discovered responsible Monday. Martinez-Hernandez has been accused of illegally coming into the USA from El Salvador.
Leavitt requested if any reporters had questions on the conclusion of Patty Morin’s remarks. Whereas some reporters raised their arms and stated they’d questions, Leavitt ended the briefing with out taking any.
“Please inform the reality. Inform how violent it truly is. That is about defending our kids. It is extra than simply politics or votes or simply something,” Patty Morin stated as she left the room.
The impromptu briefing got here amid a firestorm over the federal government’s deportation of Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador nationwide with no connection to Morin’s loss of life.
Leavitt additionally highlighted paperwork launched by the Division of Homeland Safety that confirmed Abrego Garcia’s spouse sought a restraining order in opposition to him in 2021. Maryland court docket information present the criticism was dismissed after Abrego Garcia’s spouse didn’t present up in court docket.
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi additionally shared paperwork on social media purporting to indicate authorized paperwork from Prince George’s County, Md., and the Justice Division that relate to Abrego Garcia’s immigration standing and an investigation into whether or not he was an MS-13 gang member, which he denies.
The administration’s refusal to return Abrego Garcia has precipitated an uproar amongst Democrats and civil rights teams, which have accused the federal government of violating his rights and ignoring due course of.
The White Home has responded by extra aggressively asserting that Abrego Garcia had ties to the MS-13 gang and insisting he can be deported once more if he had been returned to the U.S. Abrego Garcia’s household has denied he had ties to MS-13.
