Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced the renaming of a wildlife refuge in honor of a 12-year-old killed by an illegal immigrant.
“Jocelyn Nungaray was a young girl with a future full of promise, a light whose presence touched those around her,” Burgum said in a statement, saying the girl’s life was “taken far too soon by illegal immigrants who should never have been in our country.”
“And since taking office, President Trump has kept his promise to take bold and measurable steps to secure our border and protect American communities,” he said.
Burgum added that the renaming of the wildlife refuge offers to “establish a permanent place of hope, a place where Jocelyn’s name will live on with dignity and peace.”
The Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge will now be called the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) attended the renaming ceremony, where he said Jocelyn “loved animals and nature,” noting that the sanctuary is a “tribute to a beautiful young soul taken from us too soon.”
The renaming ceremony fulfills a March executive order.
“She was kidnapped, tied up, assaulted for two hours under a bridge, and horrifically murdered. Arrested and charged with this heinous crime are two illegal alien monsters from Venezuela, released into America by the last administration through their ridiculous open border,” Trump said during his address to Congress. “The death of this beautiful 12-year-old girl and the agony of her mother and family touched our entire nation greatly.”
“One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent national wildlife refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America,” Trump added.
