‘Forever a grieving mother’: Houston mother calls for harsher border security at Trump event

The case of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was murdered in Houston in June, took center stage at a Donald Trump press conference in Austin Friday about border security and migrant crime.

Jocelyn’s mother Alexis Nungaray stood with Trump as he pledged mass deportations of immigrants and the death penalty for all immigrants who murder a U.S. citizen. Trump attributed Jocelyn’s death to  Vice President Kamala Harris’s border policy.  

“She was just being a child,” Alexis Nungaray said. “Due to the Biden-Harris policies we have here are why she’s not here anymore.” 

“Now I will forever be a grieving mother, and my son will forever be a grieving brother who will no longer get to grow up with his sister,” added Alexis, standing in front of a backdrop with the phrases “deport illegals now” and “end migrant crime.” 

Two Venezuelan nationals, Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, are accused of Jocelyn’s murder. Their immigration status and release into the U.S. by U.S. Border Patrol has turned the case into a political flashpoint, and Trump has used Jocelyn’s death as a rallying cry at campaign stops nationally to call for tougher immigration policies. 

The mug shots of immigrants accused of violent crimes, including Martinez Rangel and Peña Ramos, were showcased at the event Friday. Despite the heightened focus on these cases during campaign season, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be incarcerated than U.S.-born citizens, according to a 2023 study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research . 

Nungaray has endorsed former president Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for Senate, and has been featured in their campaign ads linking her daughter’s death to concerns over border security. Cruz, who introduced the Justice for Jocelyn Act with U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas-22, to increase immigrant detention, was also at the event Friday. 

At the press conference, Trump repeated a debunked claim that Venezuela has emptied its prisons and sent criminals to the U.S. He tied Jocelyn’s death to a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, although local law enforcement and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office have not confirmed this connection. There are few known cases of Tren de Aragua gang members in the Houston area, the Houston Landing previously reported. 

Trump promised to outlaw sanctuary cities, carry out mass deportations, and end “migrant flights,” a reference to a legal immigration program started under the Biden administration.

“We have no choice. We have to get all these criminals, these murderers, and drug dealers and everything, we’re getting them out,” Trump said. 

Immigration and gang experts have criticized Trump and his party’s rhetoric about immigrants as gang members and criminals for “stoking fear” during election season.

The event came as Harris visited Houston Friday for a rally about reproductive rights, where Beyoncé is scheduled to appear. Harris was joined by U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is challenging Cruz for his seat in what a recent poll predicts as a tight race. Nungaray criticized Harris for failing to reach out to offer her condolences for Jocelyn’s death. Trump accused Harris of prioritizing “woke celebrities” over families like the Nungarays.

Harris called the murder of Jocelyn a “tragedy” in an October interview with Fox News. But the vice president said the blame is on Trump, instead, citing a border bill killed by Republicans in February under pressure from Trump that would have increased funding for border security. 

The Trump event comes as both presidential candidates made last minute campaign appearances in Texas, cementing the importance of the state to the national political conversation. For Harris, the Houston stop may be more about sending a message to other battleground states, rather than swaying voters in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 1976.