Former President Trump called the mother of murdered 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nungaray just minutes before he took to the debate stage against President Biden on Thursday, with the slain girl’s mother reportedly "shocked" by the goodwill gesture.
Jocelyn, who allegedly was strangled to death last week by two illegal immigrants, was laid to rest earlier in the day at a cemetery in north Houston.
During the debate, Trump mentioned he had spoken to Jocelyn’s mother before his high-stakes clash with Biden, but a report by the New York Post reveals the conversation took place a mere 10 minutes before the debate kicked off.
"I just spoke to the mother and they just had the funeral for this girl, 12 years old, this is horrible what’s taken place," Trump said during the debate where he repeatedly raised the issue of illegal immigration and highlighted several high-profile murder cases police say were perpetrated by migrants.
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Victoria Galvan, who was with Alexis when Trump called, told the New York Post that the former president conveyed that there was no one he would’ve preferred to talk to before the debate than her.
"He was like, ‘I’m actually about to come on for a debate’ … He gave his condolences and he said that he would be reaching back out to her," Galvan told the Post.
"He wanted to… say that he was praying for Alexis and that he’s been thinking about her and he wanted to reach out. He said that he was going to reach out in a couple days to her … I mean, she was really … we were all shocked," Galvan said.
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The two suspects accused of killing Jocelyn, Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22 and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, are each facing a capital murder charge and have had their bail set at $10 million this week. Both men from Venezuela entered the U.S. illegally near El Paso, Texas, before being captured by the Border Patrol and released from custody.
Jocelyn was strangled to death early last week in a case prosecutors say bears signs of sexual assault.
A White House spokesperson last week, in a statement to NBC News, said "our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of Jocelyn Nungaray.
"We cannot comment on active law enforcement cases. But fundamentally, anyone found guilty of this type of heinous and shocking crime should be held accountable, to the fullest extent of the law," the statement added.
Trump repeatedly hammered President Biden in the debate over the ongoing crisis at the southern border -- saying Biden had wrecked a secure border and turned the U.S. into a "rats' nest."
"He's the one that killed people with the bad border including hundreds of thousands of people dying, and also killing our citizens when they come in. We are living right now in a rats’ nest," Trump said.
"They're killing our people in New York and California and every state in the union because we don't have borders anymore. Every state is now a border," Trump said. "And because of his ridiculous, insane and very stupid policies, people are coming in and they're killing our citizens at a level that we've never seen."
"We call it migrant crime. I call it Biden migrant crime, they're killing our citizens at a level that we've never seen before," he said.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Greg Norman contributed to this report.
