Say Their Names

American Citizens Murdered by Illegal Immigrants

Rachel Morin, 37, was raped and murdered in Bel Air, Maryland on August 5, 2023.  Her assailant, 23-year-old Victor Martinez Hernandez, entered the United States illegally in February after murdering a young woman in El Salvador. He is also suspected of attacking a woman and her 9-year-old daughter in a home invasion in Los Angeles.  

11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed, and 26 school children were injured on August 22, 2023, by Hermanio Joseph.  A Haitian in our country illegally, he was driving a minivan in Lawrenceville, Ohio, when he crashed into a school bus, killing Aiden. 

47-year-old Catalina Valdez Andrade and her sister, 43-year-old Merced Andrade Ballon, were shot in the head on November 24, 2023, in Farmers Branch, Texas by Jose Santiago Chairez, who was in our country illegally. 

Melissa Powell, 47, and her son, 16-year-old Riordan Powell, were killed on December 12, 2023, after being struck by a drunk driver in Denver, Colorado.  Salvadoran Jose Guadalupe Menjivar-Alas was arrested for their deaths, after having been previously arrested for alcohol-related driving offenses in 2007, 2016, and 2019, and deported four times. 

Alberto Trejo Estrada, 39 years old, his 42-year-old wife Shannon Patricia Jungwirth, and her son Jorge Alexander Reyes-Jungwirth were murdered in a Minneapolis suburb in January 2024 by Alonzo Pierre Mingo, who had been previously detained by ICE, and convicted by a federal court of felony gun possession in 2020. 

Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student was killed on February 22, 2024, while jogging in Athens, Georgia.  Her assailant, 26-year-old Venezuelan Jose Antonio Ibarra, had been caught illegally crossing the border into the US but was released into the country.

2-year-old Jeremy Poou Caceres was killed in February 2024 while walking with his mother in Maryland.  His assailant was Nilson Trejo-Granados, a 25-year-old from El Salvador who had been arrested twice before for crimes in Maryland. ICE asked local police to hold him in custody after each arrest and local officials refused.

12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was brutally assaulted and murdered by Franklin Pena, 26, and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22 in Houston.  Her body was found on June 17, 2024.  Both suspects had entered the U.S. illegally and had been previously captured by Border Patrol and released.

American Citizens Victims of Illegal Immigrants

In June 2024, Missouri state troopers arrested 3 Mexican nationals and 2 Hondurans for the kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl in Indiana.  All five had come into the United States illegally.  The arresting officer said the men were trafficking the girl from Indiana to California.

25-year-old Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi was arrested in New York in June 2024, accused of tying two 13-year-olds together in a park, gagging them, and raping one of them before stealing their cellphones.  Inga-Landi entered the US illegally through Eagle Pass, Texas in 2021.  He was captured and released.  An immigration judge ordered his removal in 2022, but he remained in the US.

While the majority of immigrants come to the United States seeking a better life, there is an undeniable link between the increase in illegal immigration and crime, which poses a significant threat to American communities.

Border Patrol Cannot Handle the Influx of Illegals

Overwhelmed Border Patrol agents and facilities have been forced to release countless immigrants into the interior of our country rather than deport them.  While the majority of these immigrants are not rapists and murderers, ICE’s latest annual report for fiscal year 2023, which ended in September, showed that almost half of the 170,590 illegal immigrants arrested by ICE inside the country had criminal records.  These criminal aliens had an average of four charges and convictions each, with more than 33,000 charges or convictions for assault, over 7,500 for weapons offenses, 1,713 homicide-related crimes, and more than 1,600 for kidnapping.  Removals included over 3,400 known or suspected gang members, 139 known or suspected terrorists, and 108 foreign fugitives wanted by their own government for crimes including homicide, rape, terrorism, and kidnapping.

These distressing figures are hardly surprising considering that 2023 was a record-breaking year for illegal immigration with 2.48 million foreigners entering the U.S. through the southern border. In September, the last month of the fiscal year, federal agents encountered 269,735 illegal immigrants, constituting an all-time high for a single month up to that point, which was quickly surpassed in December when over 302,000 migrants were encountered along the southwest border.

Legal immigrants have always been welcomed in the United States and are an integral part of the fabric of our society.  My own father was a legal immigrant to this country.  But illegal aliens with criminal histories and those who commit crimes within our borders pose a threat to the safety and security of our communities. Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota, and Georgia are not border states, and if left unaddressed, this issue will eventually turn every state into a border state. 

Americans Need Protection from the Lawlessness

To protect American communities, robust measures must be implemented which include strengthening border security and enforcement, a thorough vetting process for all border crossers, and detainment instead of release for apprehended illegal aliens.

Rachel Morin, Aiden Clark, Catalina Valdez Andrade, Merced Andrade Ballon, Melissa Powell, Riordan Powell, Alberto Trejo Estrada, Shannon Patricia Jungwirth, Jorge Alexander Reyes-Jungwirth, Laken Riley, Jeremy Poou Caceres, and Jocelyn Nungaray might be alive today if our border was properly secured and Border Patrol agents were allowed to effectively do their jobs.  We have failed these citizens.  The least we can do is to say their names.