Karoline Leavitt Tries to Tie Deported Dad to Murder He Didn’t Commit

The White House continues to defy the courts with a new scare tactic.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to defend the White House’s wrongful deportation of a Maryland father to El Salvador by linking it to the heartbreaking ordeal of a mother in an entirely separate case.
Just hours after the Trump administration was excoriated by a judge over its handling of a series of deportation flights and threatened with criminal contempt proceedings, Leavitt called a special media briefing with a “special guest.”
She opened the televised briefing with a vehement attack on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a 15-year Maryland resident who was mistakenly sent to a Salvadoran prison as part of Donald Trump’s latest purge on illegal immigrants.
Ignoring the Supreme Court’s order for the U.S. to facilitate Garcia’s return, Leavitt doubled down, insisting that he had tattoos worn by the feared MS-13 gang, was with gangsters when he was arrested in March and, in a new development, revealed he had been accused of two counts of spousal abuse in 2021.
“He will never live in the United States again,” she said.
In what appeared to be a new tactic by the administration declaring all-out war on illegal immigrants whether or not they have been accused of any crimes, Leavitt then introduced the “special guest” as Patty Morin, whose 37-year-old daughter, a mother-of-five, was murdered by a monster who brutally beat and raped her in August 2023.

Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother-of-five who was killed by a Salvadoran man in 2023, speaks as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt looks on during the daily press briefing at the White House.Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

 
Although the victim, Rachel Morin, was killed near Baltimore, Maryland–the same state where Garcia lived with his wife and child–there is nothing else linking the two cases.
Garcia has not been convicted of any crime and federal judges have rebuked the lack of due process in his deportation.
Rachel’s killer, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was convicted by a jury on Monday of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense and kidnapping.

Patty Morin holds a picture of her daughter, Rachel, who was killed by undocumented immigrant in Maryland in 2023.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

Patty Morin detailed the horrific attack to a hushed briefing room on Wednesday, describing how her daughter’s bloodied body was held against a wall by her killer as he raped her. The young mother was attacked as she walked along a trail about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Both Leavitt and the mother were critical of Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen for flying to El Salvador to push for Garcia’s release.
“He used taxpayers’ money to fly to El Salvador to fly back someone who isn’t even an American citizen,” said Morin, who was in tears after describing her ordeal.
Leavitt asked if there were any questions from the media, but when a reporter raised her hand and said she had a question, the press secretary responded by saying: “Nope.”
As she left, Patty Morin told the press: “Please tell the truth. Tell the truth. Tell how violent it really is. It’s more than politics. It’s about national security. It’s about protecting Americans. It’s about protecting the children.”
In a 46-page ruling released earlier on Wednesday, Judge James Boasberg said he would instigate contempt proceedings if the administration failed to give the scores of immigrants deported to El Salvador the opportunity to challenge their removal. The White House has claimed it was acting under the terms of a little-known wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act.
On Tuesday, a judge ordered an investigation into why the administration was ignoring instructions to facilitate Garcia’s return after justice department officials acknowledged he should not have been deported.
Since then, White House officials have seemingly defied the courts and insisted it was the right thing to fly Garcia to El Salvador, where he remains incarcerated, and claimed he would not be allowed back.