The killing of a 12-year-old Houston girl, found last week in the shallow water of a city drainage ditch after having been strangled, was already a horrific crime. Then investigators arrested two recent Venezuelan migrants and charged them with killing the girl, Jocelyn Nungaray. The second of the two appeared in court on Tuesday; both were being held on a $10 million bond. Suddenly the killing, which had ripped apart a Houston family, became the latest flashpoint in the debate over immigration, seized on by Republicans and immigration opponents who drew a direct line between the crime and President Biden’s policies at the border. Greg Abbott of Texas urged the death penalty for the men charged in the killing, adding that Jocelyn “would be alive today if Biden enforced immigration laws at the border.” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas agreed.

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Persons: John Whitmire, Jocelyn Nungaray, Biden’s, Greg Abbott of, Jocelyn “, Biden, Ted Cruz of, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Gov Locations: Houston, Greg Abbott of Texas, Ted Cruz of Texas