MILWAUKEE — Michael Morin, a brother of Rachel Morin — the 37-year-old mother of five who was found dead in Bel Air last year — addressed the Republican National Convention in a short, sobering speech Tuesday night in which he thanked former President Donald Trump for his compassion and said his sister’s death was allowed to happen because of broken immigration laws.
Rachel Morin, he said, “was raped and murdered by a suspected illegal immigrant” in what he said has been “described as among the most brutal and violent offenses that has ever occurred in Harford County, Maryland history.”
A 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from El Salvador was arrested last month in the killing, sparking national interest and Republicans’ highlighting of the case to hammer Democratic President Joe Biden on his approach to the southern border.
Trump’s campaign has said Biden’s border policies “allowed” Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez to enter the country illegally. And the Republican, who was officially nominated to lead the ticket when the RNC opened here Monday, has met with some of Morin’s siblings and spoken with her mother, Patricia Morin.
Michael Morin said in his speech that Trump’s attention to his family had been meaningful while they hadn’t heard from Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.
“They never apologized,” Morin said, surrounded by two women also introduced as part of the Morin family. “But when Rachel was killed, President Trump called my family to offer his condolences. He wanted to meet with us. He cared. That is leadership. And we need real leadership back in the White House.”
Morin was among several “everyday American” speakers on immigration, the theme of the second night of the GOP convention eight years after Trump’s “build the wall” mantra established him as an immigration hardliner and energized his most fervent supporters.
“Open borders are often portrayed as compassionate and virtuous. But there is nothing compassionate about allowing violent criminals into our country and robbing children of their mother,” Morin said. “My sister’s death was preventable.”
The packed crowd, which became boisterous during some of the other similar speeches, mostly listened quietly while also cheering on Morin throughout his roughly 4 1/2-minute speech as Trump also listened nearby.
Some members of Maryland’s delegation said earlier Tuesday that they thought it was important for the convention to tell stories like Rachel Morin’s.
“It affected us personally. It’s not just Harford County,” said Nicole Beus Harris, the Maryland Republican Party chair and leader of the dozens of delegates here this week. “It is something that has affected all Marylanders and it also shows the importance that, while people might be coming across the southern border illegally, here we are 1,800 miles away from the southern border and it affected us.”
Harris, who said she had not been in touch with the Morin family, said she was glad Trump was continuing to emphasize the issue.
She said she was looking forward to hearing about “securing the border” and from Americans who have immigrated through the legal processes. She hopes a second Trump administration would focus on working with Mexico to prevent illegal border crossings and on reducing the time it takes for immigration cases to be heard in court.
“We just want to make sure that people are coming for the right reasons, and that they’re coming in the right way,” Harris said.
There’s been an unprecedented surge in people entering the country illegally, though a recent move to temporarily suspend asylum led to a 29% decline in arrests last month. The 85,536 arrests that month were the lowest of Biden’s presidency.
The Democratic president has sparred with Congress over the issue, and a bipartisan agreement that adopted many Republican ideas was derailed after Trump said GOP members of Congress should withdraw their support.
Biden has since cracked down on the border while also offering the most expansive federal protections for immigrants in more than a decade when he announced last month that U.S. citizens’ spouses who do not have legal status can apply for permanent residency and citizenship.
Tom Kennedy, an RNC delegate and chairman of the Baltimore City Republican Central Committee, said Biden’s approach to the border was “a complete disaster.”
He said it was “frightening” to see the elevated numbers of people crossing the border illegally, with implications, he said, potentially on public health, U.S. resources and crime.
He said he’s not sure exactly which policies would be best for Trump to enact but that he would favor not only reducing the crossings, but also more deportations.
“I’m hoping that the Trump team, when they come in, grabs this problem by the throat,” Kennedy said. “They have to turn it around. They can’t simply stop the spigot. They need to turn it around.”
Kennedy said that while crimes involving undocumented immigrants are anecdotal, he believes Biden’s approach has compounded the problem and could have prevented cases like Morin’s.
“It just strikes me that this is going to happen again and again. What happened to Rachel Morin is a tragedy that will be compounded again and again. Even after Biden’s gone, we’re going to be paying for this awful policy for years to come,” Kennedy said.
Authorities have said Martinez-Hernandez — who was arrested in Morin’s killing — entered the U.S. in February 2023 after also previously entering illegally and being “expelled” by U.S. Border Patrol.
Republicans have seized on the case since the arrest, with a leading conservative group running a $200,000 television ad campaign about it during last month’s presidential debate.
Erin Layman, Morin’s half-sister, originally said she would be addressing the convention but was not scheduled to speak this week, according to a list released by Trump’s campaign.
