Immigrant communities across the US are facing an uncertain future following President Donald Trump’s coercive actions against them. Fear of the unknown and social stigma in the event of deportation has taken hold, culminating in the death of an 11-year-old girl who allegedly took her own life in Dallas.
Jocelynn Rojo Carranza reportedly died by suicide following bullying from classmates. It has emerged that her classmates threatened to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement about her family. The cruel taunts left her filled with a paralysing fear of abandonment before she took the extreme step.
Jocelynn died on February 8 after spending five agonising days in a Dallas hospital, after her mother Marbella found her unresponsive at home. The sixth grader, who attended Gainesville Intermediate School, around 70 miles north of Dallas, had been tormented by her peers, her mother said.
“I waited a whole week for a miracle that my daughter would be well, but unfortunately nothing could be done,” Carranza said, her voice breaking. “My daughter will always live for me, and I will always love her.” According to Carranza, another student mocked Jocelynn, telling her that her family would be deported and she would be left all alone.
“After what happened to my daughter, we talked to the investigator to find out more about what had happened to my daughter, because they said it had been due to bullying, but I never knew anything about it,” she was quoted as saying.
Since Trump’s inauguration, ICE has nearly doubled its daily arrest rate, and more than 10,000 individuals have been deported, often through military flights. The ramped-up immigration enforcement has sparked widespread panic, not just among immigrants, but within their communities. One parent, Jessi Noble, shared her daughter’s experience with media outlets: “There was talk of, ‘I’m gonna call ICE on your family. You’re gonna get deported.’ A lot of fear, a lot of kids picking at each other.”
In spite of these distressing reports, the Gainesville Independent School District has remained tight-lipped, offering only a vague statement regarding their anti-bullying policies.
Jocelynn’s mother is left grappling with painful, unanswered questions. “We don’t know if she made the decision in fear of being alone … Or if she had been told to do it, so that she would not be left alone,” Carranza reflected in an interview. “These are unanswered questions that I still have, why, why did she do it.”
In a heart-wrenching attempt to raise funds for his daughter’s funeral, Jocelynn’s father launched a GoFundMe, updating the page on February 15 with an image from her funeral. The message was stark: “No al bullying. No al racismo. #justiciaparajocelynn.”
Investigations into the case by school authorities are ongoing, but the grief-stricken family continues to seek answers, as the shadow of a policy-driven nightmare looms ever larger.
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