Faith in the midst of grief

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, February 26th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a personal tragedy and political controversy.

The Trump administration has been working to step up deportations to keep a campaign promise. Trump officials say their initial focus is on deporting illegal migrants who threaten public safety and national security.

MAST: For one Maryland woman, this issue is brutally personal. Her name is Patty Morin. Her 37-year-old daughter Rachel Morin was murdered, and the suspect facing trial is an illegal migrant from El Salvador.

WORLD Senior Writer Emma Freire met with Patty Morin to find out how she’s managed the unspeakable grief.

EMMA FREIRE: Patty Morin is a soft-spoken grandmother and former homeschooling mom of 6. But in August of 2023, she suffered a horrific tragedy that thrust her into the national spotlight.

SEAN HANNITY: Our deepest sympathies, our prayers go out to Rachel’s entire family. Anyway, we are joined now by her mother. Patty Morin is with us…

Her daughter Rachel, who had 5 children of her own, was murdered while walking on a local trail.

Patty brought a framed photo of Rachel along to our interview. She’d wrapped it in plastic to protect it from the rain outside.

AUDIO: [Plastic rustling] This is my daughter.

It’s one of Patty’s favorites. Rachel’s younger brother took the picture and those two were particularly close. Rachel’s smile is radiant.

MORIN: She was a petite little girl, and but she when she walked into the room, it's like she filled the whole room.

Days before Rachel’s disappearance, Patty left for the funeral of a grandchild. On a Sunday morning while she was still out of town, Patty learned that Rachel was missing. A few hours later, she got a phone call.

MORIN: My son, who had driven back the day before called me, and he said, ‘Mom, there's a detective here that I'd like to speak to you.’ 

I've lost a husband, I've lost a mother, I've lost a sibling, you know, I've lost other family members. But nothing compares to the pain that you feel when you lose a child.

The police quickly identified a suspect. But it took ten agonizing months of waiting before they finally arrested Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal migrant.

MORIN: The suspect that's been arrested attempted to cross into the United States in Texas in January of 2023 and border patrol turned them away at the border. And then the fourth time, he came in at a different part, and he made his way into the United States and up to Los Angeles, where he's alleged to have attacked a nine-year-old child and the child's mother.

Police also discovered an Interpol warrant for the man’s arrest in connection with the murder of a woman in El Salvador.

Martinez-Hernendez is one of just an estimated 8 to 9 million immigrants who crossed the border illegally during the Biden administration.

KRIKORIAN: They took into custody over 6 million inadmissible aliens.

Mark Krikorian works for the Center for Immigration Studies.

KRIKORIAN: Then there were an additional 2 million got-aways

He says the term “got aways” is a term of art.

KRIKORIAN: What it means is people that they know entered because of remote cameras or ground sensors or in some other way, their illegal entry was captured, but they themselves were not captured.

Krikorian says there’s also an unknown number of people who got in but officials have no evidence to prove it. So, he believes consistent enforcement of immigration law is essential.

KRIKORIAN: Enforcing the border, enforcing immigration laws inside the country. Including at work sites, including against people who are just regular, ordinary folks and not violent criminals, is the only way you can minimize the likelihood of criminal aliens preying on Americans.

After Rachel’s murder, Patty began speaking out about the risks of illegal migration.

MORIN: Thank you, Chairman, ranking members, and congressmen…

She’s testified before Congress three times:

MORIN: She went on a trail in our town that’s very public, very small, and we’ve walked it for over 25 years. She grew up walking this trail…

She’s also met President Trump several times and at one point he even offered to pay for her to get much-needed cataract surgery.

TRUMP: I said, “Patty, get your eyes taken care of. I’ll take care of it, just get it done. I hope you got it done. Have you had it done yet?”

Patty plans to get the surgery after the trial of Martinez-Hernandez. That’s scheduled to start on April 1st. She’s slated to testify and doesn’t want anything to get in her way.

MORIN: I couldn't be there to protect my daughter. But in a way, by speaking out, I'm hoping to protect other children from this happening, and then also to show people that this pain is real, and that the circumstances that have caused it are real, and that we need to make change to protect American families.

Patty is fighting for the safety of Americans, but Rachel’s death has also helped her understand God’s sovereignty in a new way.

MORIN: Even though I have walked 50 years as a Christian, for the first time I saw God the way Isaiah did in Isaiah 6 in the year that King Uzziah died. He looked up and saw Him sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. And in that moment, I realized that God, God was God, that he was sovereign over all things, and I just wanted to fall on my face and worship God. Not because He took my daughter or he allowed it to happen, but because, for the first time, I saw God as God. That He's sovereign over all things. And because He's sovereign, he has a right to say when our life starts and when our life ends, no matter how tragic it may be.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Freire in Towson, Maryland.

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