Bill Clinton: 'If they'd all been properly vetted that probably wouldn't have happened'
Former President Bill Clinton discusses migrant crime in Fort Valley, Georgia.
FIRST ON FOX: The family of murdered Maryland mom Rachel Morin, the mother of five whose suspected killer entered the U.S. illegally, is commending former President Bill Clinton for bluntly admitting better border security could have saved the life of another young woman killed under similar circumstances.
"President Clinton acknowledged the failed border policies of the Biden-Harris administration that has cost America so much," Patty Morin told Fox News Digital through her attorney. "Had the border been secured and proper vetting done, Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and so many other Americans would be alive today. I commend President Clinton for telling the truth about the Biden-Harris border failures."
Hitting the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia on Sunday, Clinton criticized former President Donald Trump's opposition to a failed bipartisan border bill before admitting that proper vetting could have saved the life of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who police say was brutally raped and murdered allegedly by a Venezuelan man with family ties to the violent Tren de Aragua prison gang.
Former President Bill Clinton speaks in support of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign during the Fort Valley GOTV Community Fish Fry at the Agricultural Technology Conference Center on Oct. 13, 2024 in Fort Valley, Georgia. ( Julia Beverly/Getty Images)
"On the immigration thing, [Harris is] the only candidate who has actually endorsed a bill that would hold down immigration any given year to a certain point and then made sure we gave people a decent place to live, didn't divide people from their children. And we did total vetting before people got in. Now, Trump killed the bill. The bill was being written by senior Republicans in the Senate, and he killed the bill. Why?" Clinton asked.
President Clinton highlighted a devastating truth that the current administration refuses to acknowledge: no border controls and improper vetting are costing American lives.
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"You had a case in Georgia not very long ago, didn't you? They made an ad about it. A young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they'd all been properly vetted that probably wouldn't have happened. But if they’re all properly vetted, that doesn’t happen," he added.
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Feb. 22. An illegal immigrant has been charged with her murder. (Laken Riley/Facebook)
Harris, the so-called "border czar" who was supposed to take the lead in addressing the border crisis under President Biden, has been widely criticized for a massive influx of migrants in the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, which some police departments have blamed for a spike in migrant crime. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Customs and Border Patrol has maintained that migrants encountered trying to cross the border illegally are vetted and screened.
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Agents met Riley's suspected killer, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, on Sept. 8, 2022, after he crossed near El Paso, Texas, long before the bipartisan border bill fell apart.
Patty Morin, right, testifies to the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., about border policy and the death of her daughter in Harford County. Alexis Nungaray, left, testified about the killing of her daughter in Houston. (Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He received border parole and was granted entry to the country's interior. He eventually resettled in Athens, Georgia, where the murder took place.
Rachel Morin's suspected killer is also an illegal immigrant, from El Salvador, according to authorities. Her mother went to Capitol Hill twice to implore Congress to impose stricter vetting requirements at the border.
Rachel Morin in an undated photo released by the Harford County Sheriff's Office in Maryland after she went missing from a morning jog in Bel Air. (Harford County Sheriff's Office)
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, was already wanted by Interpol in connection with another woman's murder and allegedly raped a woman and her 9-year-old child in California before going to Maryland, where Morin's remains were found battered and stuffed into a culvert.
Border authorities turned him away three times before he successfully snuck into the U.S. on his fourth attempt, according to the Morin family attorney, Randolph Rice.
"His violent criminal history, known in his home country, was overlooked," he said Monday.
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"The Morin family joins President Clinton in calling out the failures of the Biden-Harris administration to enforce immigration laws and protect American families," Rice continued. "While the administration continues to turn a blind eye to the dangers posed by improperly vetted individuals crossing the border, President Clinton’s remarks recognize the reality that the current policies are failing the American people."
Fox News' Audrey Conklin and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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