Jocelyn Nungaray’s mother explains why it’s a ‘blessing in disguise’ the suspects in her daughter’s murder are migrants

Nine months ago, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray left her home and never returned.

The innocent girl who loved Lana Del Ray and Converse sneakers was raped, strangled and dumped under a bridge in Houston, Texas.

Two Venezuelan migrants, who illegally crossed the border just a few weeks earlier, were charged for the horrific murder and now face the death penalty.

The background of the suspects is something Jocelyn’s grieving mother Alexis believes has been a ‘blessing in disguise’.

She believes no one would have ‘batted an eyelash’ if her daughter’s killers had been US citizens. 

Her daughter’s horrific case has become a flashpoint in the debate over illegal immigration – and on Tuesday she was honored by Donald Trump.

‘It’s almost like a blessing in disguise that the people that did this to her were illegals, and they were not from here, because there would be nowhere near as much media attention on her story had it been someone from the US,’ Alexis told DailyMail.com.

‘I hate that it has to be people who didn’t belong here, but it’s almost like Jocelyn’s story was a wake up call to us as a nation to do better and to want better, to want more safety and security for our kids.’

Jocelyn’s story has become an immigration flashpoint, providing proof to many on the right that former President Joe Biden’s border policies allowed blood-thirsty criminals into our country to steal, kill and destroy.

Within days of the Jocelyn’s murder, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump reached out to Alexis.

The grieving mother has also appeared at MAGA campaign events with the Republican, and she was standing behind Trump as he signed the Laken Riley Act on Jan. 29.

Named after a murdered college student in Georgia whose convicted killer is also a Venezuelan migrant, the law would require the detention of illegal immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

In recent days, the Texas mom was a guest of now President Trump at his address to Congress this week as he announced he had renamed a wildlife refuge in the Lone Star State for her daughter.

Alexis shared she has been the target of push-back online for her support of Trump, and criticism over why her pre-teen daughter was out of the house alone on the night of her murder. 

After sneaking out in the middle of the night of the Texas apartment she shared with her mom and younger brother on June 16, two men approached Jocelyn on the street: Venezuelan migrants Franklin Pena, 26, and Johan Martinez-Rangel, 22.

She willingly went with them to a convenience store and later under a bridge where she was raped and strangled over a two-hour period.

Authorities have accused the migrants of having possible links to the brutal gang Tren de Aragua.

The State of Texas intends to seek the death penalty for the men if they’re convicted, however, the men aren’t expected to face a jury until 2026 at the earliest.

In recent days, Alexis gave DailyMail.com a tour of her daughter’s bedroom– recreated in a storage facility in Houston. 

She shared how Jocelyn tried to take her own life months before her murder, and how her life has changed since her daughter’s story made national headlines. 

‘I’ve always stayed out of politics…when it hit me directly in my own home, forced me to really see the issues we have,’ the mom explained.

‘When I did learn that they were illegals, it did upset me. It really upset me because it wasn’t even someone who had the right to be here.’ 

Both of the men accused in Jocelyn’s June 16 killing had only been in the US for mere weeks and months before they were arrested.

Franklin Pena, 26, crossed the border in El Paso, Texas on May 28.

After he was arrested by US Border Patrol, he later released pending a court hearing in July in Houston with a GPS ankle monitor.

The second suspect, Johan Martinez-Rangel, 22, also enter the country through El Paso on March 14 and was released with a pending court date.

‘It just blows my mind of how the system worked and how we ran things, and it was very upsetting to know that information because that’s what truly made me feel this could have been 100 percent prevented,’ Alexis said of her daughter’s death. 

She has repeatedly said she blames the Biden-Harris Administration policies for her daughter’s death. 

‘Yes, she had no business being out at late at night. I have stressed hundreds of times to her is not safe out, but that still doesn’t justify the fact that she never came home. She should have came home.’

Alexis voted for the first time in the 2024 presidential election and considers herself a Republican now.

‘I know there’s a lot of people who are upset that these this mass deportation is happening,’ she added.

‘Unfortunately, there are people who’ve been here 30, 40 years – quiet, worked, paid their taxes, did their civil duties wanting to be a citizen, but not being here legally. 

‘It’s unfortunate for these people because they make a good name for illegal immigrants or for immigrants and a whole, but when we get people who come in like these killers, it makes a bad name for all of them.’

Alexis doesn’t expect to the criminal trials for either men to be scheduled until next year at the earliest. 

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office told DailyMail.com it could not comment on the cases.