Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) blamed border conditions for a murder last year in his state, lending credence to Republican rhetoric linking immigration and crime — a position derided as fear-mongering by most Democrats.
In an interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Moore turned to the border when asked about the August murder of Rachel Morin and Friday’s arrest of her alleged killer, Víctor Martínez Hernández.
“I’m furios. And our state is still in mourning. I mean, this is a mother of five. Someone who had a life ahead of them, a lot of family celebrations ahead of them, and their life was cut short,” Moore told co-host Brian Kilmeade.
“And – and, you know, and when people think about the border crisis and think that it’s only affecting a few states, you know, Harford County, in our state, where this… brutal murder happened is a 1,800 miles away from the border. And so when people think this is only affecting a few states, this is affecting every one of us. This inaction that we continue to see to implement any form of sensible immigration policy is affecting us all, because all of us in local jurisdictions are dealing with the consequences of this,” Moore added.
Most researchers agree that immigrantscommit crimes at lower ratesthan Native Americans, so their presence tends to lower crime rates in local jurisdictions.
Hartford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler, who is investigating the crime,sought help from the publicin finding Martínez, who was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and linked to another crime in Los Angeles, as a particularly dangerous suspect.
But many Republicans are increasingly drawing links between immigration in a general sense and individual crimes, often highlighting isolated and egregious cases in which the victims are white women and the alleged attackers are Hispanic men.
Immigrant advocates say this approach is not only statistically flawed, but also stirs xenophobic sentiments and can lead to violence against immigrant communities, such as the anti-Mexican attack on an El Paso Walmart in 2019, where 23 people died and 22 others were injured.
“The six immigrant workers who died repairing the road late at night on the Key Bridge when it collapsed are far more typical of the hard-working immigrants who come to this country to build us up. However, we do not have an adequate, modern system that allows these workers to legally come to work in essential jobs,” said Doug Rivlin, senior director of communications at America’s Voice, a progressive immigrant advocacy group.
“The governor knows this, even as Fox viewers receive a very different narrative about what Maryland’s immigrant communities and families are all about.”
Moore rejected Kilmeade’s claim that President Biden is largely to blame for conditions at the border, saying bipartisan inaction by Congress has led to a dysfunctional immigration system.
But Moore doubled down on the link between crime and immigration.
“This thing – this thing is so old and there has been a lack of courage that we have – that we have seen for a long period of time in Washington that has allowed this to happen, that has allowed our states then – and the – and the people of our states, which we protect – and there is nothing I take more seriously than public safety – but who are allowing people in my state to become victims because of long-standing inaction that we continue to see across the Congress,” Moore said.
An adviser to the governor did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
Rivlin, who advised former Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) through several comprehensive immigration reform attempts, pressed the Democratic governor to abandon the “plague in both houses” approach.
“The governor is right that more than 30 years of obstruction of immigration reform by Republicans has consequences for border management, which is why our immigration system is inadequate today,” Rivlin said.
“The reality is that border and immigration policies have not changed very significantly in recent decades, but migration patterns have changed since the 1990s, the world economy has changed since the 1990s, but Congress refuses to address the moment with legislation to update our laws. We are all paying a price for the politics of nativism that dominates the Republican Party.”
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