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Published on July 17, 2024
Bereaved Brother at GOP Convention in Milwaukee Cites Sister's Murder as Plea for Stricter Immigration PolicySource: SecretName101, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Republican National Convention held in Milwaukee took a somber turn when the brother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother found murdered last year, took the stage to address the delegates on Tuesday. Michael Morin called his sister's death "preventable," speaking pointedly about the immigration policies that he believes failed to protect her from her alleged killer, Victor Martinez Hernandez, "a suspected illegal immigrant," as reported by CBS News Baltimore. Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old jogger, and mother of five, was found dead last August near the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air.

In his speech, Michael Morin highlighted gaping issues he perceives in current border policy, "But there is nothing compassionate about allowing violent criminals into our country and robbing children of their mother," he said, according to the Maryland Reporter. Martinez Hernandez, who was also accused of a previous murder in his home country and a violent crime in Los Angeles, was arrested and extradited to Maryland, where he's charged with multiple offenses including first- and second-degree murder, and is awaiting an October trial.

While the RNC stage served as a backdrop for emotional testimonies and calls for stringent border security, figures such as Maryland State Sen. Johnny Ray Salling expressed concerns about crime related to border crossings, "We have criminals that are coming to our nation that are just, not committing crimes, that they’re murdering people," he stated, per Maryland Reporter. The tragic personal narrative dovetailed with a broader push by the GOP to prioritize national safety and stricter immigration enforcement, even as organizations like the CATO Institute have reported that illegal immigrants in Texas commit crime at a lower rate than native-born Americans, nevertheless, incidents such as Morin’s murder continue to fuel a heated debate over federal border policy and community safety.

Not all responses to the Morin case have been politically charged, as both Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, and former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, reached out to offer condolences; yet, the intensity of the convention's discourse underscores a fraught national conversation about immigration and public safety, one underscored by personal loss and leveraged for the political endeavor as was apparent when Michael Morin rendered his sister's memory a testament to the call for action, "I pray that we make our country safe and secure in the memory of my sister Rachel, who loved life", as detailed by Maryland Reporter.