A Salvadoran immigrant consented Monday to be extradited to Maryland on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the killing last August of Rachel Morin. Former President Donald Trump and other politicians have seized on the case as an example of failed U.S. immigration policy.

Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, was wanted in the earlier killing of a woman in his native El Salvador and was in the U.S. illegally, authorities said. He also is a suspect in a March 2023 home-invasion attack in Los Angeles. He was arrested Friday night at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Hernandez made his first court appearance Monday and waived his right to an extradition hearing, clearing the way for Harford County authorities to transport him to Maryland for charges in the Morin case.

The 37-year-old mother of five and cleaning business owner was killed after she left her home for an early evening run on a hiking trail in Bel Air — a crime that galvanized Harford County, where violent crime is rare, and drew international attention.

The arrest of Hernandez means the case will be in the spotlight in the coming months, as immigration takes center stage in this year’s presidential election. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that temporarily shuts the border with Mexico.

Politicians — from Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton to Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore — referenced the case on Sunday news talk shows and in other appearances. Trump said in a social media post Monday that Hernandez had “fled to the USA because he knew crooked Joe would let him in.”

Moore was asked Sunday on the CBS news show “Face the Nation” if he holds the federal government partially responsible. Moore echoed Harford Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler’s remarks that failed border policies are putting Americans in danger.

“My heart is broken for the Morin family, as is our entire state,” Moore said. “She should still be here. The sheriff is absolutely right. We have an immigration policy that needed to have been dealt with and was not, and the consequences then fall on us.”

Matt McMahon, Morin’s former partner and the father of her eldest child, said in an interview that he was grateful Hernandez would soon be extradited.

”I feel more relief seeing this process move forward,” he said. “I know it’s a really long road, but every step along the way is a step closer to the jury saying guilty and the judge sentencing this guy.”

McMahon said he was disappointed to see politicians seize on Morin’s killing for political points.

”It’s just going to be another tragedy if they use Rachel as a political pawn in their stupid games,” he said. “I hope people will stop pointing fingers and start working together “

On Monday, a Tulsa County judge cleared the courtroom for officers to escort Hernandez in. He remains jailed without bond there. Speaking through an interpreter, he waived his right to the hearing and made no other comments.

Harford County authorities have two weeks to pick him up. Caylin Ryden, chief of administration in the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office, said officials are working to bring him back to Maryland as expeditiously as possible.

Hernandez is also wanted in the January 2023 killing of a woman in his native El Salvador and in the violent attack of a girl in a Los Angeles home invasion two months later, authorities said.

He surfaced in Bel Air last summer.

Witnesses spotted a man matching Hernandez’s description lurking in the woods near the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in the days prior to Morin’s killing, investigators said.

Morin, a fitness enthusiast, went for a run around 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 and never returned. Volunteers combing the woods found her body in a drainage culvert the following day. The sheriff’s office fielded hundreds of tips after the crime made national and international headlines and was embraced by legions of internet sleuths.

Nearly two weeks after Morin was killed, the sheriff’s office announced that DNA found on Morin’s body was linked to a suspect in a March 2023 home invasion in Los Angeles. Few details have been released on that incident, but investigators said the man violently attacked a girl and left traces of DNA on a water bottle and ball cap at the home.

A home security video showed a Latino man exiting the L.A. home. He appeared to be in his 20s, around 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and 160 pounds, authorities said.

In February, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office released a composite sketch of the suspect based on interviews with people who saw the man around the Bel Air trail and with witnesses in the Los Angeles home invasion.

Gahler, the Harford sheriff, said that after leaving Bel Air last summer, Hernandez moved to Prince George’s County, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles before heading to Tulsa. Hernandez worked odd jobs and had ties to gangs, Gahler said.