Former President Trump called the mother of murdered 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nangaray minutes before taking the stage to debate President Biden on Thursday, and the slain girl’s mother was reportedly “shocked” by the act of kindness.
Jocelyn, who was allegedly strangled to death by two illegal immigrants last week, was buried in a cemetery north of Houston early that same morning.
During the debate, Trump said he had spoken with Jocelyn’s mother before his crucial showdown with Biden, but the Trump campaign told Fox News Digital the conversation took place just 10 minutes before the debate began.
“I just spoke to a mother, a 12-year-old girl’s funeral was just held. This is horrible,” Trump said at the debate, repeatedly raising the issue of illegal immigration and highlighting several high-profile murders that police have blamed on immigrants.
Houston’s Mattress Mack pays for Jocelyn Nangaray’s funeral
Former President Trump called the mother of slain 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nangaray to offer his condolences just minutes before taking the stage to debate President Biden on Thursday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Victoria Galvan, who was with Alexis when Trump called, New York Post The former president told her before the debate that there was no one he wanted to talk to more than her.
“He said, ‘Actually, I’m about to debate,’ and offered his condolences and said he’d get in touch,” Galvan told The Washington Post, which first reported that Trump and Alexis had spoken 10 minutes before the debate.
“He said… he was praying for Alexis, he was thinking about her, he wanted to reach out. He said he’d contact her in a few days… she was really… we were all in shock,” Galvan said.
Trump repeatedly slams Biden for border crisis, turning America into a ‘rat den’: ‘They’re killing our people’
The photo features President Biden, former President Donald Trump and Jocelyn Nungarei. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images, Samuel Coram/Getty Images, Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The two men accused of killing Jocelyn, Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, were each charged with murder and had bail set at $10 million this week. Both men, originally from Venezuela, entered the United States illegally near El Paso, Texas, before being apprehended and released by the Border Patrol.
Jocelyn was strangled early last week, but prosecutors say there are signs of sexual assault in the case.
A White House spokesman said last week: In a statement to NBC News, “Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones of Jocelyn Nangaray.”
“We cannot comment on ongoing law enforcement cases, but fundamentally, those found guilty of these types of heinous and shocking crimes should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement added.
During the debate over the ongoing crisis at the southern border, Trump repeatedly accused Biden of destroying a secure border and turning the U.S. into a “rat’s nest.”
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Jocelyn Nangaray, 12, was found strangled to death in a creek in Houston. (Courtesy of Fox Houston and the Nungarei Family)
“This is a man who has killed hundreds of thousands of people with his mismanagement of the border and who has killed Americans trying to cross the border. We’re in a bind right now,” Trump said.
“They’re killing our people in New York, they’re killing our people in California, they’re killing our people in every state in this union, because we don’t have a border anymore. Every state is a border now,” Trump said, “and because of his ridiculous, insane, very stupid policies, people are coming in and killing our people at levels we’ve never seen before.”
“We’re calling this immigration crime. I’m calling it Biden immigration crime. They’re killing our people at a level we’ve never seen before,” he said.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Greg Norman contributed to this report.
