Talarico ripped for absence during voting on bill honoring slain preteen

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is under fire for making the “disgusting” decision to sit out a vote on a Texas bill to automatically deny bail to illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes after a local preteen was strangled to death.

As a member of the Texas House of Representatives in 2025, Talarico was absent during the final vote on a bill dubbed by state lawmakers “Jocelyn’s Law,” in honor of murdered Houston preteen Jocelyn Nungaray. The measure, which would have added a Texas constitutional amendment to deny bail to illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes, ultimately failed due to lack of bipartisan support.

Before being absent on the final vote, Talarico voted against rejecting two amendments to the bill that would have exempted immigrants present in the country from humanitarian parole, a supervision order, a pending green card application, protections for victims of the Trafficking or Violence Against Women Act, requests for visa extensions, deferred action or temporary protected status.

He’s now facing criticism for his absence as he runs for U.S. Senate in one of the states hardest hit by illegal immigrant crime. Nungaray, 12, was sexually assaulted and killed, apparently by two illegal Venezuelan immigrants, in a Houston neighborhood in June 2024.

Zach Kraft, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, criticized Talarico for what he said amounted to helping defeat the bill, saying: “It is disgusting that James Talarico would let his anti-American agenda shine through by siding with a violent illegal over a Texas family.”

DA TO SEE DEATH PENALTY AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CHARGED IN NUNGARAY MURDER CASE

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico (left) is under fire for voting against “Jocelyn’s Law,” a bill named after murdered Houston preteen Jocelyn Nungaray (right) to amend the Texas constitution to deny bail to illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images | The Story of the American Frontier)

Kraft told Fox News Digital that Talarico’s alleged opposition to the bill had “once again proven that his priority is criminals, not the safety of Texans.”

JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, objected to this, telling Fox News Digital that “James is a law and order Democrat who supports the prosecution of violent criminals, and has a proven track record of voting for stricter bail laws for violent offenders and repeatedly voting to increase funding for the Texas police.”

Ennis added that “although [incumbent Sen.] John Cornyn, [challenger Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton and the billionaires who support them lie about James’ record, he will continue to oppose both political parties to fix this broken and corrupt political system.”

Texas has suffered much of the border crisis under the Biden administration.

Prosecutors say Nungaray was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled. His body was later found in a creek catchment area. Two men, Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, both Venezuelan nationals present illegally in the United States, were charged with capital murder in the case.

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Texas Senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a campaign rally in Houston on March 2, 2026. (Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)

Before Nungaray’s killing, the men were encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, in early 2024. However, they were released on their own recognizance under the Biden administration in the United States. The murder took place just months after their illegal entry.

According to data collected by the House Homeland Security Committee toward the end of the Biden administration, there were more than 10.8 million border crossings and about two million known escapades under former President Joe Biden.

In this context, Talarico was criticized for being soft on crime and for supporting defunding the police, which he denied was an “outright lie.”

During his time in the Texas House, he also voted against the Damon Allen Act, a bill that limited bail for certain offenders named in honor of Texas State Trooper Damon Allen, who was killed by a career criminal out on bail. In 2021, he also voted against a proposed constitutional amendment that would deny bail to anyone accused of violent sexual or trafficking offenses.

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Franklin Jose Peña Ramos and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel have been charged with the murder of Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston, Texas. (Harris County Jail)

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On the issue of immigration, Talarico was criticized for saying in 2019 that “undocumented Americans” were “my constituents too.”

In a graphic released by United We Dream, an activist group that supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Talarico encouraged people not to open their doors to federal immigration agents. He asked people not to sign any documents without a lawyer and to “fight back.”

Leo Briceno and Alexandra Koch of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.