(The Center Square) – Three Texans who will attend the presidential address Tuesday night are among 15 who will be seated with First Lady Melania Trump.
Texans in attendance will highlight several of the president’s and first lady’s initiatives.
Trump will address a joint session of Congress at 8 p.m. central Tuesday to highlight accomplishments of his first six weeks in office and his legislative priorities for his second term in office.
Two Texans in attendance will highlight Trump’s border policies.
One is Houston Angel mom Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter Jocelyn Nungaray, was strangled to death after being sexually assaulted allegedly by two Venezuelan men who illegally entered the country. Instead of being processed for removal, Border Patrol agents released them into the country under Biden administration policies. Nungaray endorsed Trump for president, arguing her daughter would be alive if existing federal immigration law had been enforced, calling on him to implement border security.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filed a bill in Jocelyn’s name to tighten parole program policies and increase penalties for illegal border crossers. Her mother also endorsed Cruz during his reelection campaign.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agent Roberto Ortiz, of Weslaco, Texas, will also be in attendance. A U.S. Navy and California State Guard veteran, Ortiz has been fired upon by cartel members on multiple occasions, according to the White House. One of Trump’s first acts in office was to designate transnational gangs and cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs,), something his predecessor failed to do despite multiple requests by members of Congress and state attorneys general.
Cruz also filed bills to increase penalties and require deportation of illegal foreign nationals who assault law enforcement officers; to increase penalties for illegal border crossers who commit crimes who already have multiple convictions; to increase penalties for illegal border crossers who evade arrest and cause serious injury or death to the federal agents pursuing them; to pursue sanctuary jurisdictions who won’t comply with federal immigration law, among others.
On Trump’s first day in office, he signed multiple executive orders to implement border security measures, including declaring an invasion at the southwest border, sending U.S. troops to the southwest border, declaring an emergency at the southwest and northern borders, among others, The Center Square reported. Within his first 10 days in office, illegal entries dropped to historic lows. February’s numbers were the lowest on record, The Center Square reported.
A third Texan will attend Trump’s speech to highlight a policy initiative supported by First Lady Melania Trump, Elliston Berry of Aledo, Texas.
Berry joined Cruz and Trump at a roundtable discussion in the capitol on Monday to express support for Cruz’s Take it Down Act. The bill unanimously passed the Senate two weeks ago. It criminalizes the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including generated by artificial intelligence and “deepfake revenge pornography” and requires social media and websites to remove it.
In 2023, an Aldine High School student used a computer-generated program to create “deep fake” naked photos of her and seven other girls and published them on Snapchat to cyberbully and humiliate them. Last year, her mother testified before the Texas Senate on Criminal Justice describing the ordeal and inability to have the images taken down. State lawmakers are also addressing the issue in the current legislative session.
Cruz’s bill ties in with the First Lady’s anti-bullying campaign, “Be Best.”
“The widespread presence of abusive behavior in the digital domain affects the daily lives of our children, families, and communities,” she said at the roundtable. “Addressing this issue is essential for fostering a safe and supportive environment for our young people. … Ensuring their protection is not just a responsibility but a vital step in nurturing tomorrow’s leaders.”
Once the bill passes the House, Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law.
Other guests slated to attend include “everyday Americans” who suffered from Biden administration policies, including the mother and sister of slain Georgia student Laken Riley, who was also killed by an illegal foreign national.
