DHS Secretary Noem says Rachel Morin’s killer ‘should have never been in our country’

EXCLUSIVE: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responded to the sentencing of Rachel Morin’s killer on Monday.

Victor Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, is being sentenced to life without parole for murdering, kidnapping, and raping the 37-year-old Maryland mother in August 2023. He was found guilty of the charges in April. Specifically, he’s facing two life sentences on top of an extra 40 years. 

“Today, Rachel Morin’s killer was sentenced to life without parole for her brutal murder. This criminal illegal alien should have never been in our country in the first place. Rachel should still be here watching her 5 children grow up,” Noem said in a statement first shared with Fox News Digital.

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“We hear far too much in the mainstream media about sob stories of gang members and criminal illegals and not enough about their victims. God bless Rachel and her family,” she added.

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Martinez-Hernandez entered the United States in 2023 during the Biden-era border crisis. He was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2024.

Morin went missing on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, and her remains were found the next day in a nearby drain pipe, according to police at the time. He beat Morin’s head with rocks and then raped her corpse before trying to hide it in the pipe, according to DHS.

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Her family have been vocal advocates in the public sphere following her murder. 

“Unfortunately, Rachel’s story is not an isolated tragedy. She is one of many victims across our state and country who suffered at the hands of individuals who should never have been here because of the failures of the Biden administration,” Patty Morin, her mother, wrote in an opinon piece for Fox News on April 29.

The sentencing comes as the Trump administration is pursuing mass deportations, with the agency highlighting arrests of illegal immigrants who have been charged or convicted of other crimes.

DHS is also noting the reopening of the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office that was started during President Donald Trump’s first term. The office provides a hotline and services to victims and their families. 

“Rachel Morin’s presence was powerfully felt in the courtroom today as her children, siblings, and mother spoke from the heart,” the Morin family’s attorney, Randolph Rice, told Fox News Digital of the sentencing hearing on Monday. “They shared their deep love for her, the irreplaceable void her absence has left in their lives, and their unwavering commitment to honor her memory by seeking justice today and protecting others from suffering the same fate.”

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.