Furious mothers of women allegedly killed by undocumented migrants have given emotional testimony at a congressional hearing and slammed the Biden Administration over America’s open border.
Patty Morin, 64, was among those who shared heartbreaking testimony on Tuesday, where she gave a chilling account of her daughter Rachel’s brutal rape and murder at the age of 37 on a hiking trail in Maryland last year.
Suspect Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, was arrested nearly a year later in June, and had carried out a trail of criminality since entering the country illegally, police said.
Pouring her heart out before a packed auditorium on Capitol Hill, Patty blamed her daughter’s death on decisions made by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, saying it, and so many others, ‘[were] 100 percent preventable.’
She was among eight people invited to speak at the hearing to share their insight into the negative impacts of border management over the past 44 months, from drugs and human trafficking to violent crime miles away from any crossing.
Two other moms whose daughters are believed by cops to have been killed by illegal aliens spoke out as well, along with the mother of a fentanyl poisoning victim, a Crime Victims’ Advocate, and a California Sheriff. All demanded change.
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Patty Morin, 64, was among several mothers of woman said to have been slain by illegal immigrants to deliver chilling testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday
Rachel Morin, 37, was allegedly raped and murdered by Victor Martinez Hernandez, 23, in August 2023, after Hernandez was let in the country despite having a criminal record
‘The American people need to hear, know, and understand the truth of the horrendous war zone we call the southern border,’ Morin began, while pleading with the American people to hear her calls for increased security.
‘President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s open border policy is having a devastating impact across our great nation.
‘I live 1,800 miles from the southern border in a small town in northern Maryland – yet a man who was wanted for murder in El Salvador made his way to my community and ambushed my daughter on a quaint walking trail in broad daylight.
‘I’m here today to make sure that my daughter is remembered as more than a victim,’ she continued.
‘I hope that her story will be the wake-up call that this country needs to secure its borders and protect American citizens.’
The case surrounding Rachel’s death remained a mystery for months after the mom-of-five was reported missing following her failure to return home from a run on the nearby hiking trail in Maryland.
Hernandez, meanwhile, illegally crossed the southern border months before, in February 2023 – after he allegedly murdered a woman in El Salvador a month earlier.
He has also accused of attacking a nine-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles in the weeks before Morin’s murder.
The woman was not alone in her charge, with seven others joining her to talk about the negative impacts – including two moms whose daughters may have been killed by illegals, the mother of a fentanyl poisoning victim, a Crime Victims’ Advocate, and a California Sheriff
‘The circumstances of Rachel’s death compounded our grief,’ she said, sharing her reaction to cops cuffing the illegal immigrant in Tulsa in June following a lengthy manhunt.
‘It took months for investigators to find Rachel’s killer. While that process played out, our family endured false accusations and assaults on our character.
‘Instead of lifting us up, some community members froze us out,’ she continued.
‘Relatives lost jobs because some community members thought it was bad business to mix with a family amid a murder investigation.
‘We felt helpless and defeated as the months passed without an arrest.
‘We felt relieved when the suspect was finally caught,’ she quickly added. ‘But that relief quickly turned to horror and outrage when we learned that the suspect was an illegal immigrant.
‘This man was wanted for killing a woman in his home country when he walked into ours,’ she went on to point out.
‘What’s worse is that border patrol would have known that if they had followed the law and swabbed him for DNA the first three times he tried to get into this country.’
‘What’s worse is that border patrol would have known that if they had followed the law and swabbed him for DNA the first three times he tried to get into this country,’ Morin said
She continued: ‘[But] they just turned him around and allowed him to come back again and again, until he finally got through the border.
‘Border patrol let a man with an open Interpol warrant for murder walk right into our country to continue his crime spree.’
‘The open border policy of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris caused my daughter’s death.
‘It allowed a dangerous man to flee his home country to avoid capture and bring his reign of terror to American citizens.
‘Not only did this man brutalize my daughter. He’s also accused of attacking a nine-year-old girl in California.
‘Who knows what else he did while traveling from coast to coast? American citizens are not safe because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris removed the policies and safeguards that keep criminals out of our country.
‘Their failed open border policies have led to two murders by illegal immigrants in my small town alone,’ she asserted, before comparing the case to her own rape and abduction by a ‘criminally insane man’ in 1974.
‘I really want you to hear my words and take to heart what I and other families across America are saying.
‘Please hear our cries for help!’ she said, speaking to Congress members. ‘You each have taken an oath…an oath to serve our nation and the citizens who make it great.
!['[But] they just turned him around and allowed him to come back again and again, until he finally got through the border,' she said of Hernandez, seen in a social media photo here. He is accused of murdering another woman in El Salvador and attacking a nine-year-old girl in LA](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/09/10/19/86170323-13834873-Suspect_Victor_Martinez_Hernandez_23_was_arrested_Friday_in_Tuls-a-41_1725993087766.jpg)
‘[But] they just turned him around and allowed him to come back again and again, until he finally got through the border,’ she said of Hernandez, seen in a social media photo here. He is accused of murdering another woman in El Salvador and attacking a nine-year-old girl in LA
‘Protect Americans by securing our borders. We are losing American mothers, daughters, and children to criminals. These deaths are 100 percent preventable.
‘Let’s use our resources to protect Americans and welcome immigrants who choose to enter our country legally.’
Making the pleas through a steady stream of tears, the mother – and soon-to-be grandmother – added: ‘Do this for Rachel. Please.’
Also issuing emotional testimony was another mourning mom, Tabby Nobles, whose daughter was raped and killed by an MS-13 gang member in 2022, eight months after she filed suit against feds for failing to stop him at the border.
The lawsuit from the mother of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton named both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as defendants, and demanded $100million in damages.
As it continues to make its way through the proper channels, Nobles begged the committee to make changes to policies currently in place – days after her daughter’s confirmed killer’s identity was unsealed when he finally pleaded guilty to her murder last month.
‘At first, we knew very few details of the murder until an arrest,’ Nobles said, after a year and half of being left in the dark due to the age of the El Salvadoran suspect, Walter Martinez, who is 17.
‘At the end of March of 2022 Walter Javier Martinez was apprehended by Border Patrol crossing illegally into the U.S. at the southwest border in Rio Grande City, Texas,’ she continued.
Also issuing emotional testimony was another mourning mom , Tabby Nobles, whose daughter was raped and killed by an MS-13 gang member in 2022 , eight months after she filed suit against feds for failing to stop him at the border
‘Martinez stated that he was 16 years old and feared gang activity in his country in El Salvador.
‘As an unaccompanied alien child, Martinez was granted access into the United States with no background checks or vetting,’ she said.
‘Homeland Security did not verify the sponsor and allowed Martinez to go live in Frederick, Maryland’ – leading the suspect to stay in a home in the same trailer park as her daughter, after he subleased it from an illegal who owned the property.
‘Martinez was living there less than five days before he violently and brutally murdered my daughter,’ said Noble.
‘Walter Javier Martinez broke into Kayla’s room while she was sleeping that morning.
‘Kayla left a voicemail on her boyfriend’s phone,’ she continued of the July 2022 murder.
According to the voicemail, a struggle was going on, and Kayla can be heard crying, groaning, and struggling to breathe,’ she recalled.
‘Martinez can be heard on the voicemail hushing her and near the end telling her “I’m sorry” in Spanish while strangling her with her phone cord.’
The lawsuit from the mother of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton named both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as defendants, and demanded $100million in damages
She went on to describe how when her daughter was already deceased, Martinez proceeded to tie her up and sexually assaulted her – facts ‘confirmed by the swabs that matched Martinez’s DNA,’ she said.
‘Kayla fought for her life that day. She had bruises up and down her arms, her fingers, the left side of her face, her back and down her leg and deep wounds to her neck from the cord.
‘Local police knew right from the beginning he was the main suspect just by their initial investigation.
‘It took the Aberdeen police to confirm that Martinez was a known gang member of MS-13, and that Martinez had a criminal record in El Salvador in 2020,’ she continued, before revealing how the suspect was even allowed to enroll in US public school as the probe continued.
‘If Homeland Security did a background check, then they would have known this, and Martinez wouldn’t have been able to be on US soil.
‘The Aberdeen Police department demanded that Martinez be held in a secure location because he was a threat to society based on the murder and injuries of Kayla Hamilton, [but] it was later learned that Child Protective Services placed Martinez in a group home with other children,’ she said.
They then placed Martinez in a foster home which allowed him to be enrolled in High School, Nobles stated.
Nobles begged the committee to make changes – days after her daughter’s confirmed killer’s identity was unsealed after he finally pleaded guilty to her murder last month. Walter Martinez (seen here), 17, was also allowed to enroll in high school during the probe, she pointed out
‘This was also confirmed by an investigative reporter with Fox 45 Project Baltimore who got an actual confirmation from Edgewood High School.
‘Martinez ended up pleading guilty and taking the plea deal of 70 years,’ she said of the agreement reached late last month.
‘Since he was a juvenile at the time, even tried as an adult Martinez couldn’t get life without the possibility of parole,’ she pointed out.
‘This not a political issue this a safety issue for everyone living here in the United States.
‘Not only was Kayla’s life put at risk and taken so many other children and adults were at risk.
‘The Biden-Harris administration is not putting the American citizens safety first.
‘The United States Government must secure our border. We need to properly vet and background check all border crossers.’
She concluded: ‘This isn’t about immigration this is about protecting everyone in the United States.’
Nobles, seen here getting ready to testify with a framed photo of her late daughter, at one point said: ‘This isn’t about immigration this is about protecting everyone in the United States’
A third mother, Alexis Nungaray, also spoke to the committee.
Her daughter, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, was allegedly killed by two Venezuelan nationals in Houston earlier this summer, before being tossed into a creek partially naked.
‘I believe the Biden-Harris Administration’s open border policies are responsible for the death of my 12 year old daughter,’ she said, citing how suspects Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena Ramos, 26, had been enrolled in an “Alternatives to Detention” program due to ‘Catch and Release’ policies.
This meant the duo could be released into the interior of the United States in May, Nungaray said – adding how it was ‘not even a full three weeks later that they would take [her daughter’s] life.
‘They saw a young girl, my daughter Jocelyn, and placed a target on her without her even knowing,’ she said, citing surveillance footage showing the pair stalking the preteen as she walked to local a corner story where she was eventually snatched.
‘The program the two illegal immigrants were enrolled in failed my daughter.
‘I’m here to use my voice and raise awareness of how broken our country has become with our open border policies.’
She added: ‘As a U.S citizen it shouldn’t be a privilege to have safety in this country, it should be a requirement. My daughter should have been able to safely walk to the store without having to wonder if she was going to make it home or not.
A third mother, Alexis Nungaray, spoke to the committee as well. Her daughter was allegedly killed by two Venezuelan nationals in Houston earlier this summer,
Pictured, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was killed while going to a corner store near her home in June
She reminded onlookers how Nungaray ‘was only 12 years old’.
‘She was an innocent kid doing kid things… She had her entire life ahead of her. Because of these open border policies, I will never get to see my daughter start high school, never get to see her go off to prom, never get to see her walk down the aisle.
‘I come to you all as a grieving mother, to please help make this country change for the greater good. This country needs to make a change.’
Rangel Martinez and Franklin Pena, 26, are accused of luring Nungaray underneath a bridge before sexually assaulting and killing her.
Her body was found the next morning after she had been strangled, bound and thrown in a bayou. She was naked from the waist down.
The men allegedly met Nungaray, who had snuck out of her house, as she was walking to a 7-11 around 10om on June 16.
The men walked to the store with her and later under the bridge. Investigators have yet to say which of the men they believe raped Nungaray before her death.
Both men are currently being held in jail with $10 million bonds each.
Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, is one of two men who could face the death penalty for the capital murder for the girl’s death
Also testifying Tuesday was Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, who spoke about how policies have impacted everything from drug and human trafficking to financial crimes in his county several hundred miles from any border.
Others speakers included Anne Fundner, mother of Weston Fundner, whose life was cut short at 15 by fentanyl-laced pills that she said were the fault of increased border crossings.
Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an affiliated tesearcher at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation University of California San Diego testified too, as did Melissa Lopez, Executive Director of the Estrella del Paso Melissa Lopez.