Texas wildlife refuge renamed for murdered 12-year-old, Jocelyn Nungaray, unveils signage: ‘Her life mattered’

The Trump administration has renamed the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Texas after a Houston girl who, prosecutors said, was brutally killed last year by two Venezuelan illegal immigrants.

The park, now known as the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge, hosted a renaming ceremony on Thursday. The 39,000-acre sanctuary along the Texas Gulf Coast in Anahuac serves as a home for migratory birds and wildlife managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Let this land speak her name. Let its quiet strength echo her spirit. And let it stand as a testament that her life mattered,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said during the ceremony attended by Nungaray’s mother. “And that her story, however heartbreakingly brief, needs to be told and retold and never forgotten.”

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During his joint address to Congress in March, President Donald Trump announced the renaming of the refuge to honor Nungaray, showing his signature on an executive order that changed the name of the park. 

“I had no idea that was going to happen. It was a really big shock and surprise,” Alexis Nungaray, Jocelyn’s mother, told FOX 26 at the time. “I was stunned. I didn’t really know how to react. It was very surreal, very bittersweet.”

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During Thursday’s ceremony, Burgum noted that Nungaray loved animals while offering his condolences to her mother, who did not speak. 

“May Jocelyn’s family find peace in the tranquility of the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge. It’s a lasting tribute to a beautiful young soul taken from us too soon,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said. 

Nungaray’s death drew national attention amid criticism of the Biden administration over millions of illegal immigrants, some with violent criminal records and street gang ties, who entered the United States during his presidency. 

In December, prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty for her accused killers, 22-year-old Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos.

Both men kidnapped Nungaray and caused her death by applying pressure to her neck, authorities said. They also allegedly sexually assaulted her before leaving her body under a bridge. 

Search warrants later revealed the men were possibly members of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and entered the U.S. illegally before the slaying.