Ted Cruz Reintroduces Bill That Would Require ICE to Detain as Many Illegal Immigrants as Facilities Can Hold

Six months after his first attempt to introduce the "Jocelyn Nungaray Act" to Congress failed, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has reignited the charge to get his act through a committee, expecting to get a different result this time around.

The bill is named after the 12-year-old Houston girl who prosecutors say was murdered by two undocumented immigrants from Venezuela while she was walking back home in the early morning of June 17. According to court records, Nungaray was sexually assaulted and strangled to death by Johan José Martínez-Rangel and Franklin José Peña Ramos.

The two men entered the United States illegally in 2024 on separate occasions near El Paso. Soon after they were arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents but were later released with orders to appear in court, according to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. "These are crimes committed by illegal immigrants who were apprehended and that the Biden-Harris administration chose to release," Cruz said last year.

Last July, Cruz alongside U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) pushed the idea for a bill that would introduce tougher immigration laws in Texas, severely limiting the ability of federal immigration authorities to release people they detain.

The "Justice for Jocelyn Act" seeks to prevent migrants from being released until all available detention beds are filled and, if they do, they would be subjected to continuous GPS monitoring and have a nightly curfew. Any violation of the terms of their release would result in immediate deportation.

In an interview with KPRC 2, Sen. Cruz said his first attempt did not get a vote because "Democrats controlled the Senate," but he expects a different result this time around thanks to a Republican majority in both chambers.

"Previous Congresses supported Joe Biden's open borders across the board," Cruz said. "Now this is a new Congress...we have the Republican majority in the House, in the Senate and obviously a Republican president who will be sworn in on Jan. 20"

During the interview, Cruz added that he is pressing hard to get a vote on the floor of the Senate and remains hopeful that Democrats can will change their mind despite voting against it back in July.

"That is certainly my hope," Cruz said. "And I think we are going to get a vote on it. And I hope we can get it passed," he added.

The Texas Senator said he was reintroducing the bill to "protect the next little girl, the next little boy" as he says violent crimes continue to take place in the U.S. on a daily basis.

"I think today we have a greater risk of a major terrorist attack than any time since Sept. 11," Cruz argued during the interview. "And the open borders we have are an invitation for terrorists to come across our southern border and target innocent Americans. We have got to secure the border and keep people safe," Cruz added.