Ted Cruz unveils Justice for Jocelyn act after 12-year-old's killing
HOUSTON - Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is pushing for Congress to support a bill called the Justice for Jocelyn Act.
The bill is named after a 12-year-old Houston girl who prosecutors say was murdered by two undocumented immigrants from Venezuela.
The men were awaiting their immigration hearing when the crime occurred.
"I refuse to let her voice go unheard," said Alexis Nungaray, Jocelyn's mother.
Nungaray says the men should not have been out of federal custody.
Senator Ted Cruz said the men were in Homeland Security's alternative to the detention program, despite there being enough space to continue holding them.
That discrepancy is part of the Justice for Jocelyn Act.
If it becomes a law, the bill would prevent migrants from being released to the program until all available detention beds are filled.
"There were detention beds available, about 3,000 were sitting empty," said Cruz.
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Jocelyn Nungaray case: Search warrant reveals suspects pointing the finger at each other over her murder
According to court documents obtained by FOX 26, they state that Franklin Jose Pena Ramos and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel are pointing the finger at each other over Jocelyn's murder.
The law would require GPS tracking and a curfew.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat, joined Senator Cruz in the press conference.
"It will make us safer and because crime is bigger than partisanship. If Justice for Jocelyn had already been the law of the land its a great likelyhood Jocelyn would be here today," said Ogg.
Border security is a priority issue for Republicans and in national polling.
Senator Cruz used this opportunity to again criticize the Biden-Harris Administration for what he calls "security failures" on the border.
FOX 4 reached out to the campaign for Dallas Congressman Colin Allred, who is running against Cruz for Senate.
The campaign pointed us to an ad released Friday in Texas that cites Allred's work with Republicans on a bipartisan border bill that would hire more agents, speed up the backlog of immigration cases and fund more technology.
That bill died in the Senate after former president Donald Trump urged Republicans to not take action on it.
With this case, Cruz says the crime could have been prevented because the suspects would have remained in custody or been sent back to their country of origin.
"There is evil in the world and so in my time in the senate, I fought to secure the border," he said.