Two recent Venezuelan migrants were charged with killing of a 12-year-old Houston girl, Jocelyn Nungaray, who was found last week in the shallow water of a city drainage ditch after having been strangled. "It doesn’t get any worse,” said Mayor John Whitmore. the city’s mayor, John Whitmire, said. One suspect appeared in court on Tuesday; both were being held on a $10 million bond, reports the New York Times. The killing, which ripped apart a family, became the latest flashpoint in the debate over immigration, seized on by Republicans and immigration opponents who drew a direct line between the crime and President Biden’s border policies. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged the death penalty for the suspects, adding that Jocelyn “would be alive today if Biden enforced immigration laws at the border.” Former President Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) agreed.
Trump invoked Jocelyn’s name in a speech, suggesting that the killing could resurface during Thursday’s presidential debate, which is expected to include immigration. “These monsters should never have been in our country and if I were president, they would not have been in our country,” Trump said. “We had a strong border, we had strong protection.” Jocelyn joined a list of victims whose names have become familiar in conservative media and among Republicans lawmakers because their alleged attackers had recently entered the U.S. without authorization. They include Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed in a Georgia park in February, and Rachel Morin, 37, who the authorities say was raped and killed last year while jogging in Maryland. Even in Democratic-led New York City, police officials suggested that the arrival of large numbers of migrants, including on buses paid for by Texas, had created a “migrant crime wave.” Despite a number of high-profile cases, studies have found that migrants commit fewer crimes than legal residents.