By Ted Hesson and Alexandra Ulmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Minutes before he took the stage for the first presidential debate on Thursday, Donald Trump received a phone call from the mother of 12-year-old Joselyn Nungaray, who was killed in Houston this month, allegedly by two Venezuelan men who had illegally entered the United States. The mother, Alexis Nungaray, was replaying a voice message Trump had left earlier in the day while she was at her daughter’s funeral, Victoria Galvan, a family friend who witnessed the call, told Reuters. Nungaray’s body was found in a creek near her home on June 17, after her attackers allegedly took her under a bridge, tied her up, pulled down her pants and strangled her, according to police and prosecutors.
The suspects — Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26 — were detained by U.S. border authorities in Texas earlier this year but were released pending a court appearance. During the debate, Trump brought up the Nuungaray case and the phone call while attacking Biden over his immigration policies, accusing the Democrat of allowing murderers and rapists to enter the country. “We’ve had so many young women murdered by the same people that are letting them come through our border,” Trump said. “These killers are coming into our country and they’re raping and killing women. And that’s terrible.”
Citing the Nungarai case, he said: “This is terrible, what has happened… We have now become a literally uncivilized country.”
Trump’s attacks are inspired by a playbook he has used repeatedly since first running for office in 2015 to portray immigrants who illegally cross the southern border as violent criminals. It typically focuses on young women, usually white, who were allegedly killed by Hispanic attackers to drive home this message, avoiding cases involving male victims. His opponents accuse him of exploiting grieving families to fuel his narrative that foreign-born immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic, are part of an invading army.
“Part of what’s happening here is an attempt to stoke xenophobia or hostility or racial animosity,” said Christopher Federico, a professor of political science and psychology at the University of Minnesota, adding that Trump appears to be playing on racist stereotypes that paint Latino men as threats to “the perceived purity of white womanhood.”
Studies have generally found no evidence that immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans, and critics say Trump’s rhetoric reinforces racist tropes.
Yet polls show that the visceral message resonates with many voters. It is amplified by conservative media outlets, pro-Trump influencers online, and sometimes by relatives and friends of the women who were killed.
Galvan, 27, blamed Noongarai’s death on Biden’s easing of some restrictions on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I think Jocelyn would definitely still be here if President Trump were our president,” Galvan said, adding that she plans to vote for the first time in a presidential election and will support Trump.
Despite the lack of evidence, about three-quarters of Republicans in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll said immigrants in the United States illegally “pose a risk to public safety.”
good play book
Trump attacked Biden over record levels of migrants being caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border. Immigration is a major concern for voters, especially among conservatives.
In response, Biden blames Trump for urging Republicans to block a bipartisan bill introduced by the US Senate earlier this year aimed at tightening border security, and portraying Trump’s policies as unnecessarily harsh.
“Donald Trump is using the pain and loss of American families to benefit one person and one person only: Donald Trump,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement. “His sick and inhumane comments do nothing to make our borders more secure and are beneath the office of President of the United States.”
A digital ad featuring violent crime and criticizing Biden was launched last week in seven battleground states as part of a campaign by the conservative group Building America’s Future.
The ad focuses on Rachel Morin — a mother of five who was raped and murdered while jogging in August 2023 near her Maryland home — and her accused killer, an immigrant from El Salvador in the United States illegally.
“Joe Biden’s open borders are a nightmare for American women,” a woman’s voice says as the face of Morin’s alleged killer is displayed next to Biden’s.
Susan Del Persio, a Republican strategist who has been critical of Trump’s immigration rhetoric, says Trump’s approach mirrors the oft-cited “Willie Horton” ad that attacked Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential campaign.
Horton was black, and critics said the ad – which effectively boosted the candidacy of Republican George H.W. Bush – sought to incite fear along racial lines.
She added: “Trump says: ‘We don’t like immigrants, and now there’s another terrible reason why we don’t like them. They will come after you and kill you.'”
Carolyn Levatt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said Biden’s border policies allowed dangerous criminals to enter the United States, and that Trump sought support for the victims’ families.
“President Trump says their names, calls their mothers, and stands with their families, while Joe Biden continues to ignore their suffering and welcomes millions of dangerous, criminal illegal immigrants,” Levat said in a statement.
Trump used inflammatory language to describe immigrants in the United States illegally, including describing them as “poisoning the blood” of the country.
Mixed reception
Families of some victims have welcomed Trump’s efforts to publicize the brutal killings, while others say he is simply politicizing the deaths of their loved ones.
In 2018, Trump publicized the case of Molly Tibbetts after the 20-year-old University of Iowa student was killed by a Mexican immigrant in the United States illegally, but Tibbetts’ father criticized Trump at the time for exploiting the tragedy for political gain.
Tibbetts’ mother, Laura Calderwood, told Reuters she believed her daughter’s killer was a disturbed person but that the killing had nothing to do with his immigration status.
“It was an anomaly,” said Calderwood, a Democrat who plans to vote for Biden. “There are a lot of illegal immigrants here and they don’t go out and kill people.”
Michelle Root, whose daughter Sarah was killed in Nebraska in 2016 when her car was illegally struck by a drunk driver in the United States, told Reuters that President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden never responded when she wrote to them at the time to raise awareness about the issue.
Obama’s personal office and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Root said Trump, then a presidential candidate, invited her to meet him before a campaign rally in Omaha. The meeting convinced her — a lifelong Democrat who voted for Obama twice — to support Trump.
She said he later called her and asked her permission to mention Sarah’s case in his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination that summer.
“If it wasn’t for him, Sarah wouldn’t have a voice,” she said.
Patty Morin, Rachel Morin’s mother, was “deeply moved” when Trump reached out to her earlier this month to offer his condolences, her attorney, Randolph Rice, told Reuters.
“During the 20-minute phone call, the President asked about Rachel and her family and how they were doing,” Rice said in an email. “She has not heard back from the Biden administration yet.”