Say Their Names: 13 Men, Women, and Children Whose Lives Were Cut Short by Illegal Aliens in Past Year

(Daily Signal)—Over the past 12 months, illegal aliens have been arrested in connection with the deaths of at least 13 Americans. Seven of those victims were minors.

“The simple fact is that every crime committed by an illegal alien is one committed by an individual who should not have been at large in the country in the first place,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Green told The Daily Signal.

“While the Left likes to hide behind flawed studies and incomplete data on illegal alien crime, families across our country are suffering from the tragic realities of President [Joe] Biden and Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas’ open borders,” said Green, R-Tenn.

The growing number of American lives lost at the hands of illegal immigrants coincides with an increase in the number of criminal illegal immigrants crossing America’s borders annually.

According to Customs and Border Protection, 13,130 criminal noncitizens were encountered between ports of entry since the start of fiscal year 2024 on Oct. 1, setting up fiscal 2024 to outpace last year’s 15,267 such encounters.

“Instead of enforcing the laws they swore to uphold, Biden and Mayorkas have devoted themselves to a policy of mass catch-and-release,” Green said. “This radical agenda may excite their far-left base, but the rest of us are left wondering if one of our loved ones will be the next to fall victim to these violent crimes.”

The following are 13 Americans who have lost their lives at the hands of illegal aliens in the past 12 months.

Jocelyn Nungaray, 12

Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, have been charged with capital murder in the death of Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston. Nungaray’s body was found in a creek on June 17.

In court documents obtained by Fox News, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Michael Abner wrote that “the defendant lured a 12-year-old under a bridge, where he and his co-defendant remained with her for over 2 hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou.”

Peña Ramos crossed the border in May; Martinez-Rangel in March. Both men are from Venezuela.

“Let me be very clear,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently said in an appearance on Fox News, “These bastards should be executed, and they should burn in the pits of hell. But we shouldn’t have to be talking about this, because Jocelyn should still be with us. And every day this administration is releasing more and more and more illegal aliens who are going on to kill people day after day after day.”

Gloria Cascio, 53

On April 26, Maine state troopers responded to reports of a car crash on Interstate 95 in Wells, about 30 miles south of Portland.

Driving a Toyota Prius, Oguzhan Cildir—an illegal immigrant who crossed the U.S. border from Mexico in January—hit a minivan and a pickup truck, according to The Maine Wire. The pickup truck, carrying Gloria Cascio and her husband, rolled over a number of times. Cascio was pronounced dead at the scene, and her husband suffered serious injuries.

The Maine Wire reported Thursday: “More than 62 days after the fatal accident, no charges have been filed against Cildir, and a police source tells the Maine Wire that State Police are still waiting for a toxicology report.”

Ruby Garcia, 25

Brandon Ortiz-Vite, an illegal alien from Mexico, is accused of killing a Michigan woman, Ruby Garcia, during a carjacking attempt in March.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Ortiz-Vite was deported to Mexico in the fall of 2020, but returned to the U.S. without permission, according to the local Michigan news outlet MLive.

Garcia was found dead on a road in Grand Rapids on March 22 with a gunshot wound to the head.

Christopher Gadd, 27

Raul Benitez Santana, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, crashed into Washington State Trooper Christopher Gadd’s cruiser at more than 100 mph in March.

Santana, driving an SUV, reportedly swerved and hit the back of Gadd’s parked patrol car on the shoulder of Interstate 5 in Marysville, Washington, about 34 miles north of Seattle.

The New York Post reports that it’s unclear when Santana first arrived in the U.S., but he has had multiple run-ins with U.S. law enforcement dating back to 2013.

Gadd was a husband and father of a daughter.

Travis Wolfe, 12

On Dec. 20, Endrina Bracho crashed her vehicle into a car carrying 12-year-old Travis Wolfe and his parents. The Missouri family was rushed to a hospital, and Travis was put on life-support. He passed away on March 6.

Bracho, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was reportedly driving 75 mph in the wrong lane when she collided headfirst with the car carrying Travis.

Bracho faces multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter and operating a vehicle without a valid license.

Alex Wise Jr., 10

Rogelio Ortiz-Olivas, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is accused of hitting and killing Alex Wise Jr. while the young boy walked home from school in Midland County, Texas, in February.

CBS reported that Ortiz-Olivas was previously sent back to Mexico on a voluntary removal, and was then deported five times after that.

He faces charges of hit-and-run and of an accident causing death.

Lizbeth Medina, 16

Rafael Govea Romero was indicted in February on capital murder charges in the death of Lizbeth Medina last December.

Romero, an illegal immigrant, had reportedly been stalking Medina leading up to her killing, according to KTRK-TV.

The teen’s mother, Jacqueline Medina, found her daughter dead in the bathtub of their apartment in Edna, Texas, about 140 southeast of San Antonio.

Jeremy Poou-Caceres, 2

Nilson Granados-Trejo, an illegal alien and Salvadoran national, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 2-year-old Jeremy Poou-Caceres in Maryland in February.

The little boy and his mom were out for a walk when they were caught up in the crossfire of an illegal immigrant who was in a car and firing, reportedly at another group of people.

Laken Riley, 22

Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University, was slain while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga., on Feb. 22. Authorities concluded that she died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who crossed the border in 2022, has been arrested and charged with 10 counts in Riley’s death, including malice murder.

Melissa Powell, 47, and Riordan Powell, 16

An illegal alien who had been deported four times faces charges in connection with the accident that killed mother and son Melissa and Riordan Powell in December 2023 in Colorado. He was reportedly driving under the influence.

Jose Guadalupe Menjivar-Alas, an El Salvadoran, was said to be going about 100 mph when his vehicle struck the vehicle carrying Powell and her son.

Menjivar-Alas faces multiple charges, including vehicular homicide.

Aiden Clark, 11

Hermanio Joseph, a Haitian migrant, illegally crossed the border in 2022, according to the Daily Mail.

On Aug. 22, Joseph was driving with an invalid license in Lawrenceville, Ohio, when he swerved over the centerline and struck a school bus full of children. Aiden Clark, 11, was ejected from the bus and pronounced dead at the scene. About two dozen other children were injured.

Joseph was found guilty May 1 of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide and was sentenced to nine to 13 years in prison, WDTN-TV reported.

Rachel Morin, 37 

Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, crossed the U.S. southern border illegally in February 2023, according to Harford County, Maryland, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler. Six months later, in August 2023, Hernandez is suspected of attacking, raping, and killing Rachel Morin, a mother of five, while she exercised on the MA & PA Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.

After a lengthy investigation, authorities arrested Hernandez in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 14 on charges of rape and murder.