Greenberg: Sanctuary Cities and Democrats’ Rejection of Law, Order, and Voters’ Will

Patty Morin’s heartbreak is a devastating indictment of the far-left ideology which has gutted America’s immigration system, leaving families shattered and communities defenseless. Her daughter, Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was brutally raped and murdered in August 2023 on a Maryland hiking trail by Victor Martinez-Hernandez. He is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador with ties to the MS-13 gang. Convicted in April 2025, Martinez-Hernandez was a “gotaway” who slipped through our porous borders three times before killing Rachel.

This tragedy joins the 2015 murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, killed by an illegal immigrant shielded by so-called sanctuary city policies, and among other similarly preventable deaths enabled by Democrats’ reckless agenda. Sanctuary cities like San Francisco and others across California actively enable these crimes by defying federal law, harboring criminals. Democrats’ broader rejection of law and order, public safety, and the majority of voter priorities deepens the crisis amid ignoring Americans’ demand for secure borders.

Patty’s raw plea at the White House on April 16, 2025, was a cry for justice: “Tell the truth.” Standing before reporters, her voice trembling with grief, she demanded the media stop sanitizing her daughter’s murder while urging lawmakers to secure America’s borders. She exposed the human toll of unchecked illegal immigration, a toll she knows too well.

Yet, while Patty Morin mourns, extremist Democrats like Senator Chris Van Hollen jet off to El Salvador on taxpayer dollars to advocate for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deportee with MS-13 ties. Patty’s on-air question cuts deep: “Why does that person (Garcia) have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren?”

It’s a similar question Kate Steinle’s family asked when her killer, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an illegal immigrant deported five times, was coddled by San Francisco’s sanctuary policies when he shot Kate on a pier in July 2015. Democrats’ obsession with defending non-citizen criminals over victims highlights growing contempt for the rule of law and the safety of Americans.

Sanctuary cities, particularly in California, are ground zero for this crisis. San Francisco’s 1989 “City and County of Refuge” ordinance forbids local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE detainers unless a violent felony is proven, and even if then, shields criminal illegal immigrants. Garcia Zarate, with a history of drug crimes, was released from jail in 2015 despite an ICE hold, weeks before killing Kate.

California’s sanctuary state law, SB 54, passed in 2017 and championed by far-left Democrats like Governor Gavin Newsom, limits police-ICE collaboration statewide. Cities like Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego follow suit, releasing thousands of criminals annually. A 2019 ICE report revealed California’s sanctuary policies freed thousands of convicted criminals in one year, many reoffending. These policies, driven by Democrats’ ideology, don’t just undermine federal law—they enable predators like Garcia Zarate and Martinez-Hernandez to prey on the innocent, mocking the public’s demand for safety.

Other tragedies underscore this pattern. In 2018, Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old Iowa student, was murdered by Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an illegal immigrant who lived undetected for years. In 2024, Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, was killed by Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan migrant released after a border apprehension. Though not in California, these crimes reflect the lax enforcement emboldened by Democrats’ overall sanctuary mindset nationwide. Democrats’ refusal to heed voters’ calls for security ignores the public, as seen in the backlash to their defense over and over of policies protecting criminals.

Democrats’ rejection of law and order extends beyond sanctuary cities. The former Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies have allowed and facilitated literally millions of illegal crossings since 2021, overwhelming Border Patrol and letting criminals like Martinez-Hernandez slip through after three apprehensions in 2023.

Patty Morin testified in September 2024 that DNA collection could have stopped her daughter’s killer, but as expected, Democrats blocked such measures, dismissing border security as “xenophobic” and labeling open borders fake news.

Kate’s death spurred “Kate’s Law” to jail repeat illegal reentrants, but Democrats conspired to kill it in the Senate, prioritizing “immigrant rights” over Americans’ public safety. Polls reflect voters’ frustration: a 2024 Rasmussen Reports survey found 65% support stronger border enforcement, and a 2025 Gallup poll showed 70% want tougher immigration laws. Yet, Democrats ignore these demands, pushing to defund police in cities like San Francisco—where the city’s Board of Supervisors cut police budgets in 2021—signaling disdain for the law and order voters crave.

The far-left media, aligned with Democrats ideology, compounds this betrayal. Patty Morin begged for honest reporting, but mainstream outlets downplay crimes committed by illegal immigrants, framing Kate’s killing as “accidental” and glossing over Rachel’s, Mollie’s, and Laken’s murders. Meanwhile, reporters and talk show hosts amplify Garcia’s deportation as an “error,” giving more credence to his cause than to American victims. Congressman Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador, defying a Supreme Court order to check on Garcia, got more sympathy than the Morins’ suffering. This double standard shields Democrats’ narrative that sanctuary cities are allegedly “moral”.

President Trump stood with these victims’ families, inviting Patty Morin to the border and championing Kate’s family in 2015. His administration seeks to cut funding to sanctuary cities and deport criminals like Garcia Zarate. And where were Biden and Harris on this? Only Maryland Governor Wes Moore offered Patty condolences. Van Hollen’s response—pairing justice for Rachel with support for “immigrant communities”—was truly a slap in the face.