Prosecutors in Texas announced on Friday that they will seek the death penalty for two Venezuelan men accused of killing a 12-year-old girl in Houston after illegally entering the U.S.
The death of Jocelyn Nungaray became a focal point in the debate over immigration policies this year. In the wake of her daughter’s death, Nungaray’s mother campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump, advocating for better border control.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg stated her office would officially file a notice later on Friday, confirming that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26. Both men face capital murder charges for Nungaray’s death on June 16. Martinez-Rangel and Peña remain in jail, each held on a $10 million bond.
“Jocelyn’s murder was as vile, brutal, and senseless as any case in my tenure as district attorney,” Ogg said in a statement. “It was made worse by the fact that these two men were here illegally, and had they been held after being captured at the border, they would never have had the chance to murder Jocelyn and destroy her family’s future.”
The Associated Press contacted attorneys for both men on Friday but had not received a response.
Prosecutors claim the two men kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and strangled Nungaray before leaving her body in shallow water under a bridge. Her body was discovered in a creek on June 17, with a medical examiner concluding she had been strangled.
Martinez-Rangel and Peña had been arrested earlier in the year by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso after entering the country without proper documentation. They were released and given notices to appear in court at a later date.
Republicans seized on Nungaray’s death, and other similar cases involving immigrants who entered the country illegally, to criticize President Joe Biden’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. In another case, Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan man, was sentenced to life in prison last month for the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Trump has claimed that migrants have caused a sharp increase in crime, though multiple studies indicate immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
