A pair of illegal aliens accused of murdering 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston, Texas, may have ties to Venezuela’s violent Tren de Aragua gang that has flourished in the United States thanks to lax immigration enforcement under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
As Breitbart News reported, Venezuelan illegal aliens 22-year-old Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and 26-year-old Franklin Pena — both released into the U.S. interior from the southern border — were charged with sexually assaulting and murdering Jocelyn in the early morning of June 17.
Search warrants obtained by KPRC 2 News now reveal that Martinez-Rangel and Pena are being investigated for their possible ties to Tren de Aragua — a violent street gang based in Venezuela that has added potentially hundreds to its ranks in the U.S. via illegal immigration at the southern border.
“It makes it seem more real that these people are monsters and that these are evil people who do heinous things, don’t have a heart, who have no compassion for anybody,” Angel Mom Alexis Nungaray told KPRC 2 News.
“We really have no business burying our kids, they’re supposed to bury us,” Alexis Nungaray said.
Border Patrol agents had apprehended Martinez-Rangel at the border near El Paso, Texas, on March 14. The same day, he was released into the U.S. interior on an order of recognizance with a Notice to Appear (NTA) at a later date before a federal immigration judge.
Border Patrol agents apprehended Pena near El Paso on May 28 and released him into the U.S. interior that day on an order of recognizance with an NTA — just 20 days before he allegedly helped murder Jocelyn.
The House Homeland Security Committee has since found that Pena and Martinez-Rangel were released at the border from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody, even as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had thousands of detention beds available at the time of their releases.
Martinez-Rangel and Pena are each being held on a $10 million bail. ICE agents have placed detainers on both of them, requesting custody if they are released from jail at any time.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
