HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors in Texas announced Friday they will seek the death penalty against two Venezuelan men accused of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl after illegally entering the U.S.
Jocelyn Nungaray’s death was one of several cases this year that became flashpoints in the debate over the country’s immigration policy. Nungaray’s mother campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump and called for better control of the border after her daughter’s death.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office would file an official court notice later Friday that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26. Each man has been charged with capital murder in Nungaray’s death on June 16. Martinez-Rangel and Peña each remained jailed on $10 million bonds.
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“Jocelyn’s murder was as vicious, brutal and senseless as any case in my tenure as district attorney,” Ogg said in a statement. “And it was made worse by knowing that these two men were here illegally and that if they had been detained after being picked up at the border, they would never have had the opportunity to kill Jocelyn and destroy her family’s future.”
The Associated Press sent emails Friday seeking comment from attorneys for both men.
Prosecutors allege the two men kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled the girl before leaving her body in shallow water under a bridge. Her body was found in a creek on June 17. A medical examiner concluded she had been strangled.
Martinez-Rangel and Peña had been arrested by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso earlier this year after entering the country without papers. Both were released and given notices to appear in court at a later date.
Republicans used Nungaray’s death and other cases in which immigrants who entered the country illegally were accused of committing violent crimes to criticize President Joe Biden’s administration of the U.S.-Mexico border during his administration. In another case, Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan man, was sentenced last month to life in prison for the death of Georgian nursing student Laken Riley.
Trump has claimed that migrants have caused a skyrocketing crime rate. Multiple studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
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