{"id":11246953,"date":"2025-04-04T16:13:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T20:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11246953"},"modified":"2025-04-05T11:05:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T15:05:33","slug":"latino-community-heartbroken-tense-as-rachel-morin-murder-trial-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/04\/04\/latino-community-heartbroken-tense-as-rachel-morin-murder-trial-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Some in Latino community heartbroken, tense amid Rachel Morin murder trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Janet Arce was living in Harford County when Bel Air resident Rachel Morin was ambushed, raped and killed after heading out for a walk on the Ma &amp; Pa Trail in August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>It took authorities 10 months to find and capture their main suspect, Victor Hernandez Martinez of El Salvador, who authorities said was in the country illegally. He was arrested in Oklahoma and extradited to Maryland, where he faces trial on murder charges in Harford County Circuit Court. Opening statements were heard Friday, and the trial continues Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The county&#8217;s Latino community was as grief-stricken and as fearful as everyone else in the wake of the crime, says Arce, a Puerto Rican native who has spent 30 years supporting Spanish-speaking immigrants in Maryland. And with the high-profile proceeding underway, they\u2019re feeling tense, worried the spotlight will reflect on them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are following this trial very closely,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople are hurt. She was a young mom of five children. It\u2019s just heartbreaking. Everyone agrees that if you come to this country and commit a crime, you deserve to pay the penalty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the same time, it\u2019s like \u2014 how can I say it? \u2014 people look at us like we\u2019re [all] criminals or gang members. That is not the case. We also feel the pain, and we think, \u2018Wow,\u2019 this makes us all look bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The killing of Morin is far from the only violent crime committed by individuals in the country illegally that has grabbed headlines and left American families shattered. Nor is it the first to be seized on by politicians who favor stricter immigration polices.<\/p>\n<p>The fatal shooting of California woman Kate Steinle by a Mexican national in 2015 sparked fierce criticism and debate over San Francisco&#8217;s sanctuary city policy, which bars local officials from questioning a resident&#8217;s immigration status. Donald Trump was one of several Republican presidential candidates who made the case an issue in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts was killed by an undocumented immigrant while jogging. A Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally was convicted in November of killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia, in February of last year. And two others from Venezuela are facing capital murder charges in the rape and killing of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas last June.<\/p>\n<p>Trump made those and other cases cornerstones of his argument for stiffer immigration policies on the campaign trail last year, and the message resonated: Most voters listed concerns about immigration as one of their two top concerns. the Pew Research Center found that 56% of registered voters favored mass deportations of immigrants who are living in the country illegally.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10121505\"  class=\"wp-caption alignnone size-article_inline\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" alt=\"Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, arrives in Maryland. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in Rachel Morin's death on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air. (Jerry Jackson\/Staff)\" width=\"3240\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"10121505\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, arrives in Maryland. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in Rachel Morin&#039;s death on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air. (Jerry Jackson\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Trump administration has followed through. A White House spokesman announced this week that it had deported more than 100,000 immigrants in the country illegally since January.<\/p>\n<p>The 45th and now 47th president made Morin&#8217;s case a prominent part of the argument. He invited Morin&#8217;s brother, Michael, to speak at the Republican National Convention in June, where he blamed Harris-Biden administration policies for her death, and Morin&#8217;s mother, Patti, has appeared with Trump several times to back his administration&#8217;s hard-line policies.<\/p>\n<p>The American Immigration Council and other critics point to numerous studies that show immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are statistically less likely to commit violent crimes in the United States than native-born Americans, and many have accused the President and GOP of exploiting tragedies to paint immigrants in the worst possible light.<\/p>\n<p>Sheri Hoidra makes no such accusation, but she does fear that politicians can and will use a case like Morin&#8217;s to work up support for ill-advised immigration legislation<\/p>\n<p>A immigration attorney with a roster of clients in Harford County, Hoidra says the times are so sensitive that few in her field, let alone Maryland immigrants, are willing to talk about their views on issues that affect their communities. The sentiment among her clients is overwhelming that the crimes against Morin were shocking and heartbreaking and that they want justice to be done,\u00a0she said, but most are also wary of being viewed as suspect simply because they&#8217;re Latino.<\/p>\n<p>And as an attorney, Hoidra is worried that conservative lawmakers will use the understandably powerful emotions around the Morin case to gin up support for bills she says would violate the rights of both documented and undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom are productive, law-abiding members of their communities.<\/p>\n<p>Hoidra, currently the chair of the immigration law section of the Maryland State Bar Association, has appeared in Annapolis to oppose two bills before the General Assembly that would alter the legal framework local and federal law enforcement have been using to deal with suspected illegal immigrants in the state since 2021.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10205004\"  class=\"wp-caption alignnone size-article_inline\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" alt=\"Patty Morin and her family lead a prayer walk to honor her daughter Rachel on the one year mark since her murder on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail last Aug.. (Kenneth K. Lam\/Staff)\" width=\"3300\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"10205004\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patty Morin and her family lead a prayer walk to honor her daughter Rachel on the one year mark since her murder on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail last August (Kenneth K. Lam\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Dignity Not Detention Act, passed that year, barred Maryland and its local jurisdictions from entering into agreements with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for immigration detention, essentially barring the state from participating in federal detention programs. It also prohibited state and local actors from inquiring about an individual&#8217;s immigration status.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Hoidra has testified against both House Bill 85, sponsored by State Delegate Nino Mangione, a Baltimore County Republican, which would remove many of those restrictions on local agents, and House Bill 1188, which would compel further cooperation by local law enforcement with ICE opposes<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the community is concerned because [politicians] are using the name of an individual who was, obviously, horrifically killed,&#8221; says Hoidra, a U.S. citizen who emigrated from Iran.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The accused person was undocumented, sure. But to use that fact to say &#8216;we&#8217;re going to have Maryland police act as ICE agents and give them the right to ask questions about immigration status,&#8217; that scares people,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Among other things, it will keep people from feeling OK about reporting crimes to police. It has a significant ripple effect through the whole community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One local cleric who works closely with immigrants says virtually everyone in the Spanish-speaking community hopes that anyone who commits the kind of crime Morin&#8217;s assailant did are dealt with severely \u2014 even more so, perhaps, if they&#8217;re Latino.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With all the controversy over immigration, and given all the executive orders [Trump] has been signing, there\u2019s a clear line among our people that if you\u2019re a criminal, you have to be out of here,&#8221; says Bishop Angel Nu\u00f1ez, longtime pastor of the Bilingual Christian Church of Baltimore. &#8220;And if he&#8217;s found guilty, he should not be sent back to his home country so he could just come back here and do the same thing again.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He belongs in jail,&#8221; says Nu\u00f1ez<strong>,<\/strong> who also serves as vice president of the National Hispanic Pastors Alliance, a consortium of more than 800 churches in the U.S. &#8220;Those are the kind of thoughts people have.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11306915\"  class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline_third\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=210%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 210w\" alt=\"Rachel Morin's mother Patricia, right, and sister Rebekah, center, walk to Harford County Circuit Court to attend trial in Rachel's murder. Patricia Morin's lawyer, Randolph Rice, accompanies them at left. (Lloyd Fox\/Staff)\" width=\"3000\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"11306915\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=210%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 210w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Morin&#039;s mother Patricia, right, and sister Rebekah, center, walk to Harford County Circuit Court to attend trial in Rachel&#039;s murder. Patricia Morin&#039;s lawyer,  Randolph Rice, accompanies them at left. (Lloyd Fox\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Closer to the trial venue, meanwhile, Pablo Hernandez says Latinos will be keeping a close eye on the proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez, a U.S. military veteran who volunteers at a Spanish-speaking church in Edgewood, reiterates that most in the community fear that too many are associating the person who killed Morin with a broader Latino community that has had a presence in the county dating to the 1980s and that is as horrified by his actions as anyone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People speak about the crime \u2014 how bad, how violent it was, and especially about the repercussions to the children of the murdered young lady. They&#8217;re also speaking about how even though we don&#8217;t live in the city, we\u2019re not immune from crime, how even the places we thought of as safe aren&#8217;t safe any more. We have to remain vigilant,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p><em>Have a news tip? Contact Jonathan M. Pitts at jonpitts@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It took authorities ten months to find and capture their main suspect in the rape and murder of Maryland mom Rachel Morin. As his trial begins, the Latino community fears being associated with him due to their race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":10981971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-04-04T20:13:51Z","apple_news_api_id":"b07de3fb-f3ea-44ca-99b5-bb10f098035d","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-04-05T15:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AsH3j-_PqRMqZtbsQ8JgDXQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[503,86,24268,83,84,91,24758,85,93],"tags":[25577,26325],"feature":[],"location":[359,273,325,223],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[11986],"class_list":["post-11246953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aegis","category-crime-public-safety","category-harford-magazine","category-latest-headlines","category-local-news","category-national","category-national-politics","category-news","category-politics","tag-immigration","tag-rachel-morin","location-baltimore","location-baltimore-county","location-harford-county","location-maryland"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"Some in Latino community heartbroken, tense amid Rachel Morin murder trial","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"1743912000","print_slug":"TBS-L-MORINTRIALIMMIGRANTS-0406","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"It took authorities ten months to find and capture their main suspect in the rape and murder of Maryland mom Rachel Morin. As his trial begins, the Latino community fears being associated with him due to their race.","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. Please adjust images to reflect these limits.","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":"[caption id=\"attachment_10121505\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"3240\"]<img class=\"size-article_inline lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" alt=\"Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, arrives in Maryland. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in Rachel Morin's death on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air. (Jerry Jackson\/Staff)\" width=\"3240\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"10121505\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/TBS-L-HERNANDEZMORINthumb.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" \/> Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, arrives in Maryland. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in Rachel Morin's death on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air. (Jerry Jackson\/Staff)[\/caption][caption id=\"attachment_10205004\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"3300\"]<img class=\"size-article_inline lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" alt=\"Patty Morin and her family lead a prayer walk to honor her daughter Rachel on the one year mark since her murder on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail last Aug.. (Kenneth K. Lam\/Staff)\" width=\"3300\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"10205004\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/TBS-L-MORINWALK-LAM-P2.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" \/> Patty Morin and her family lead a prayer walk to honor her daughter Rachel on the one year mark since her murder on the Ma &amp; Pa Heritage Trail last Aug.. (Kenneth K. Lam\/Staff)[\/caption]<p>[cq  comment=\"Harford County, meanwhile, is one of three Maryland counties that have adopted ICE's 287(g) program, which grants state and local police the authority under federal law to \"identify and process removable aliens.\"\" ][cq  comment=\"Critics say the power is too broad, that few local agents are trained to make such judgements, and that it too easily allows for racial and other profiling.\" ]<\/p>[caption id=\"attachment_11306915\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"3000\"]<img class=\"size-article_inline_third lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=210%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 210w\" alt=\"Rachel Morin's mother Patricia, right, and sister Rebekah, center, walk to Harford County Circuit Court to attend trial in Rachel's murder. Patricia Morin's lawyer, Randolph Rice, accompanies them at left. (Lloyd Fox\/Staff)\" width=\"3000\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"11306915\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TBS-L-MORINOPENSTATE-p3.jpg?fit=210%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 210w\" \/> Rachel Morin's mother Patricia, right, and sister Rebekah, center, walk to Harford County Circuit Court to attend trial in Rachel's murder. Patricia Morin's lawyer, Randolph Rice, accompanies them at left. (Lloyd Fox\/Staff)[\/caption]","print_content":"<p>Janet Arce was living in Harford County when Bel Air resident Rachel Morin was ambushed, raped and killed after heading out for a walk on the Ma &amp; Pa Trail in August 2023.<\/p><p>It took authorities 10 months to find and capture their main suspect, Victor Hernandez Martinez of El Salvador, who authorities said was in the country illegally. He was arrested in Oklahoma and extradited to Maryland, where he faces trial on murder charges in Harford County Circuit Court. Opening statements were heard Friday, and the trial continues Monday.<\/p><p>The county's Latino community was as grief-stricken and as fearful as everyone else in the wake of the crime, says Arce, a Puerto Rican native who has spent 30 years supporting Spanish-speaking immigrants in Maryland. And with the high-profile proceeding underway, they\u2019re feeling tense, worried the spotlight will reflect on them.<\/p><p>\u201cPeople are following this trial very closely,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople are hurt. She was a young mom of five children. It\u2019s just heartbreaking. Everyone agrees that if you come to this country and commit a crime, you deserve to pay the penalty.<\/p><p>\u201cAt the same time, it\u2019s like \u2014 how can I say it? \u2014 people look at us like we\u2019re [all] criminals or gang members. That is not the case. We also feel the pain, and we think, \u2018Wow,\u2019 this makes us all look bad.\u201d<\/p><p>The killing of Morin is far from the only violent crime committed by individuals in the country illegally that has grabbed headlines and left American families shattered. Nor is it the first to be seized on by politicians who favor stricter immigration polices.<\/p><p>The fatal shooting of California woman Kate Steinle by a Mexican national in 2015 sparked fierce criticism and debate over San Francisco's sanctuary city policy, which bars local officials from questioning a resident's immigration status. Donald Trump was one of several Republican presidential candidates who made the case an issue in 2016.<\/p><p>Two years later, University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts was killed by an undocumented immigrant while jogging. A Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally was convicted in November of killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia, in February of last year. And two others from Venezuela are facing capital murder charges in the rape and killing of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas last June.<\/p><p>Trump made those and other cases cornerstones of his argument for stiffer immigration policies on the campaign trail last year, and the message resonated: Most voters listed concerns about immigration as one of their two top concerns. the Pew Research Center found that 56% of registered voters favored mass deportations of immigrants who are living in the country illegally.<\/p><p>The Trump administration has followed through. A White House spokesman announced this week that it had deported more than 100,000 immigrants in the country illegally since January.<\/p><p>The 45th and now 47th president made Morin's case a prominent part of the argument. He invited Morin's brother, Michael, to speak at the Republican National Convention in June, where he blamed Harris-Biden administration policies for her death, and Morin's mother, Patti, has appeared with Trump several times to back his administration's hard-line policies.<\/p><p>The American Immigration Council and other critics point to numerous studies that show immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are statistically less likely to commit violent crimes in the United States than native-born Americans, and many have accused the President and GOP of exploiting tragedies to paint immigrants in the worst possible light.<\/p><p>Sheri Hoidra makes no such accusation, but she does fear that politicians can and will use a case like Morin's to work up support for ill-advised immigration legislation<\/p><p>A immigration attorney with a roster of clients in Harford County, Hoidra says the times are so sensitive that few in her field, let alone Maryland immigrants, are willing to talk about their views on issues that affect their communities. The sentiment among her clients is overwhelming that the crimes against Morin were shocking and heartbreaking and that they want justice to be done,\u00a0she said, but most are also wary of being viewed as suspect simply because they're Latino.<\/p><p>And as an attorney, Hoidra is worried that conservative lawmakers will use the understandably powerful emotions around the Morin case to gin up support for bills she says would violate the rights of both documented and undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom are productive, law-abiding members of their communities.<\/p><p>Hoidra, currently the chair of the immigration law section of the Maryland State Bar Association, has appeared in Annapolis to oppose two bills before the General Assembly that would alter the legal framework local and federal law enforcement have been using to deal with suspected illegal immigrants in the state since 2021.<\/p><p>The Dignity Not Detention Act, passed that year, barred Maryland and its local jurisdictions from entering into agreements with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for immigration detention, essentially barring the state from participating in federal detention programs. It also prohibited state and local actors from inquiring about an individual's immigration status.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: left;\">Hoidra has testified against both House Bill 85, sponsored by State Delegate Nino Mangione, a Baltimore County Republican, which would remove many of those restrictions on local agents, and House Bill 1188, which would compel further cooperation by local law enforcement with ICE opposes<\/p><p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p><p>\"I think the community is concerned because [politicians] are using the name of an individual who was, obviously, horrifically killed,\" says Hoidra, a U.S. citizen who emigrated from Iran.<\/p><p>\"The accused person was undocumented, sure. But to use that fact to say 'we're going to have Maryland police act as ICE agents and give them the right to ask questions about immigration status,' that scares people,\" she said. \"Among other things, it will keep people from feeling OK about reporting crimes to police. It has a significant ripple effect through the whole community.\"<\/p><p>One local cleric who works closely with immigrants says virtually everyone in the Spanish-speaking community hopes that anyone who commits the kind of crime Morin's assailant did are dealt with severely \u2014 even more so, perhaps, if they're Latino.<\/p><p>\"With all the controversy over immigration, and given all the executive orders [Trump] has been signing, there\u2019s a clear line among our people that if you\u2019re a criminal, you have to be out of here,\" says Bishop Angel Nu\u00f1ez, longtime pastor of the Bilingual Christian Church of Baltimore. \"And if he's found guilty, he should not be sent back to his home country so he could just come back here and do the same thing again.<\/p><p>\"He belongs in jail,\" says Nu\u00f1ez<strong>,<\/strong> who also serves as vice president of the National Hispanic Pastors Alliance, a consortium of more than 800 churches in the U.S. \"Those are the kind of thoughts people have.\"<\/p><p>Closer to the trial venue, meanwhile, Pablo Hernandez says Latinos will be keeping a close eye on the proceedings.<\/p><p>Hernandez, a U.S. military veteran who volunteers at a Spanish-speaking church in Edgewood, reiterates that most in the community fear that too many are associating the person who killed Morin with a broader Latino community that has had a presence in the county dating to the 1980s and that is as horrified by his actions as anyone.<\/p><p>\"People speak about the crime \u2014 how bad, how violent it was, and especially about the repercussions to the children of the murdered young lady. They're also speaking about how even though we don't live in the city, we\u2019re not immune from crime, how even the places we thought of as safe aren't safe any more. We have to remain vigilant,\" he says.<\/p><p><em>Have a news tip? Contact Jonathan M. Pitts at jonpitts@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>"},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"1743865562","print_workflow_exported_username":"Tricia Bishop","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":"24225","print_status":"24232","add_export_buttons":"","print_endpoint":"tribune"},"really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"premium","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":10981971,"title":"AP24309751605586","filename":"AP24309751605586.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/AP24309751605586.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2024\/11\/05\/2024-united-states-presidential-election-results-updates\/attachment\/10981971\/","alt":"Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump embraces Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, during a campaign rally","author":"13","description":"","caption":"Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump embraces Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, during a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. 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