It's been a bit of an eventful day for and in the State of Arizona Thursday. While the DNC is wrapping in Chicago, former President Donald Trump is touring the Southern border in Cochise County, Arizona. Just ahead of his press conference there, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order staying a lower court ruling and allowing the Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote to go into effect. And on top of that, there's an active manhunt going on for an individual who threatened to assassinate Trump while in Arizona. 

BREAKING: Cochise County Sheriff Searching for Man Who Threatened to Assassinate Trump in AZ Today

NEW: SCOTUS Allows Arizona Law Requiring Proof of Citizenship
in Voter Registration to Take Effect

Despite the manhunt, Trump proceeded with the event, delivering remarks on the need for a secure border. He was joined at the event by family members of victims murdered at the hands of illegal aliens, including Patti Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered in August 2023 while out for a run on a pedestrian trail in Bel Air, Maryland. The man charged with her murder, 23-year-old Victor Martinez-Hernandez, was in the country illegally. 

Trump spoke about Rachel before inviting Patti to speak, giving her a hug and some words of encouragement as she approached the microphone to address the press and others assembled for the event. 

Mother of Rachel Morin, brutally murdered by illegal alien, speaks alongside President Trump in Cochise County, AZ pic.twitter.com/4DxsMxY9M1

— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) August 22, 2024

TRUMP: Then there's the heartbreaking story of Rachel Morin. And we're joined today by Patti and Michael Morin, Rachel's mother and brother. And I met with them — we had lunch — and they're devastated at a level that nobody can really imagine. Rachel was a cherished 37-year-old mom — beautiful woman — of five incredible children who adored their mother more than anything in the world — they loved their mom. Earlier this year, while Rachel was out on a run — she wants to keep herself in good shape, and she ends up getting killed — in her neighborhood, she was brutally raped and murdered by an illegal alien who was let into America by Kamala Harris and her policies of stupidity. 

[The] savage person who committed this heinous crime first killed another woman in El Salvador before walking across our open border — just walked right in. They didn't have this [gestures at border wall] then. He then attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother in a home invasion in Los Angeles, where they were very badly hurt, before murdering Rachel. And the area where Rachel lived in a very different part of this country. It was coldblooded murder. Patti and Michael, I would just, first of all, thank you for being here. I know it's hard — it's tough. But they want to let people understand what's going on here because this can't happen to other parents and sisters and brothers and husbands. So, if you would, I'd love you to say a few words, thank you. 

PATTI MORIN: Hi, I was just thanking President Trump for the invitation to come and to share Rachel's story. Rachel was 37 years old. She had five children. She worked. She owned a small business. She worked very hard to support her family. And the trail that Rachel ran daily was a trail we, as a family, would walk over the last 25 years that we've lived in Maryland. It's a very safe, small trail, very public, very open; moms with baby carriages go down this trail — it's very safe. 

I was in Kentucky — we had a grandbaby that had passed away — when I got a phone call from my son, and he said, "Mom, there's somebody here that would like to speak to you." And when I said, "Hello?" the person on the other end said, "Hello, Mrs. Morin? This is Detective So-and-So. I'm the lead detective on this case. There's no easy way to tell you this, but we found your daughter's body..." And if they find the body — you know that she's dead. They wouldn't say, "We found Rachel — she's alive." And so they found my daughter's body, and when they found it, it just recently has come out that she was brutally beaten, raped, and then stuffed into a drain pipe.

We're 18,000 miles — 1,800 miles — from the border. And because of this open border, we've had not just my daughter, but we've actually had two in the same county that were from where illegal immigrants have come in and have caused rape and murder of our citizens. 

And I don't — I really — the reason why I came here today and I accepted the invitation is because I really want our words to be heard, and I really want you to take to heart what we're saying. It's not — we're not here for a political stand, although we are — we're here because we're losing our moms, our daughters, our children to criminals. And that shouldn't happen. We should be taking care of our country, our people. And the only way I believe that's going to happen is if President Trump is reelected as president, and we close up this border, and we put policies back into place that were there before, instead of this open border...thing. We're just gonna — we're gonna end up being a third-world country if it continues this way. 

And I hope — truly I hope — that you would just take my words to heart because it's devastating to lose a child, but even more devastating when you see the pictures, or you see the body, and you really understand what's happened to that person. So, please take to heart — this is a very, very important issue, and it's one that's either going to make or break our country. It's not so much — it's about America, and it's about Americans; it's about us taking and protecting ourselves and looking out for each other. It's about protecting our families. So, thank you.

An observation I'd like to add, which ties into something I wrote on Wednesday: Before Patti Morin began to speak, Trump hugged her, leaned in and kissed her head, and said very quietly, "Thank you, darling, thank you. Take care of yourself. Absolutely — we don't want it to happen to other people, that's all." Later, as Patti became overwhelmed with emotion as she spoke of learning of Rachel's death, he leaned over and patted her on the shoulder, then again as she wrapped her remarks, along with an added hug. His interaction with Patti Morin mirrored the empathy he displayed at his Asheboro, North Carolina, rally on Wednesday when a woman in the audience had a medical emergency, and he stopped his speech, left the stage (and the protection of the bullet-proof glass) and went over to check on and hug and encourage her, as well. 

There are those who will condemn Trump no matter what he says or does. But there are those who see this side of him (at least when they're able to see around the legacy media) and recognize that whatever flaws the man may have, he shows genuine concern and compassion for those who are suffering — particularly those grieving the loss of a loved one. Trump is at his best when he's interacting with regular people. 

Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication for clarity.