In the wake of the horrific, brutal murder of a twelve-year-old girl last week, incensed Texas lawmakers are seeking stronger restrictions on “catch and release.”
Family members of the Houston girl who police say was killed by two Venezuelan men who entered the U.S. illegally said that they are supporting legislation that would severely limit the ability of federal immigration authorities to release immigrants they detain. The proposed legislation runs counter to what migrants’ rights groups advocate — a move away from detention — with one such advocate calling the measure an effort “to bloat the immigration enforcement system” and “to demonize immigrant communities.”
Venezuelan nationals Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, have been charged with capital murder in the death of Jocelyn Nungaray, whose body was found in a creek on June 17 after she disappeared during a walk to a convenience store. A medical examiner concluded that she was strangled.
The two men entered the United States illegally earlier this year on separate occasions near El Paso. They were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol but later released with orders to appear in court at a later date, according to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Their release came through ICE’s Alternatives to Detention programs, which allow detained immigrants to be freed while their immigration cases are pending. ICE uses GPS monitoring, phone calls, and a phone app to monitor them and ensure that they make their court appearances.
“The two men who ripped my daughter away from me should have never been here. They should never have been roaming our streets freely, as freely as they were,” Alexis Nungaray, Jocelyn Nungaray’s mother, said at a news conference.
Following the girl’s death, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, both Republicans from Texas, introduced legislation called the “Justice for Jocelyn Act.” It would prevent federal authorities from releasing a detained immigrant if there are open beds available at a detention center.
If detained immigrants are released, they would be subject to continuous GPS monitoring and have a nightly curfew, and any violation of the terms of their release would result in immediate deportation.
“These are crimes committed by illegal immigrants who were apprehended and that the Biden-Harris administration chose to release,” Cruz said.
Jocelyn’s brutal death at the hands of these two barbaric migrants is just another example of the Biden-Harris failed immigration policies. In Georgia, the arrest of a Venezuelan man accused of killing nursing student Laken Hope Riley became a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration. Such acts are on the rise. In addition to the horrific slaying of 12-year-old Jocelyn, a Virginia grandmother was killed last week during a carjacking by two illegal migrants from El Salvador.
While crimes like these have caused Texas lawmakers to propose some much overdue new legislation on ICE’s “catch and release” policies, this recent rise in migrant crime should emphasize the need for the United States to protect its citizens by exercising existing deportation and detention requirements embodied in the Immigration and Nationality Act.