Jocelynn took her own life after being harassed at school because of her family’s immigration status: ‘Why was I left without my princess?’

At 10:30 a.m., on Wednesday, February 19, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Gainesville, Texas, dozens of family members and friends gathered. They were all wearing white sweatshirts, each displaying a picture of a happy little girl in the center. They then moved to Fairview Cemetery, carrying a small coffin with flowers on top.

Everyone looked up at the gray, cold Texas sky. The mourners released a handful of balloons, covered in messages and dedications. This was how they said goodbye to Jocelynn Rojo Carranza, an 11-year-old girl who took her own life earlier this month.

After her death, her parents learned about how she had been bullied at school, due to her family’s immigration status.

It’s been over two weeks since February 8, when doctors certified Jocelynn’s death in the intensive care unit at Medical City Dallas. Five days earlier, her family found her unconscious in the backyard of their house. Her father, Antonio Rojas, a citizen of Mexico, still cannot understand how this is possible, especially when it comes to someone like his daughter. She was “pure love and sweetness,” he recalls. Jocelynn was a lover of wind instruments — she played the French horn — and dancing. Rojas is now looking for answers to his many questions.

“We want to [know about things] that haven’t been clarified by the investigator, to be able to understand a little more about why I was left without my princess Jocelyn,” her father tells EL PAÍS. “She would never have had that idea in her little head.”

Rojas is devastated. He explains that his “enormous pain” can only be understood by someone who has lost a child. He also wants to send a warning message to all parents: “Take care of your children, [protect them] from any kind of evil or situation in which they find themselves in danger.”

Jocelynn’s death has made headlines and shocked the country after it was revealed that the girl — the eldest of four siblings — was facing bullying at Gainesville Intermediate School, where she was in sixth grade. It was her mother, Marbella Carranza, who told the press that only after her death did she learn through the investigator that her daughter was being harassed by classmates. On more than one occasion, they threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to deport her family.

Although school authorities insist that they weren’t aware of the bullying, those responsible for the investigation maintain that Jocelynn had informed her teachers about it and had even received counseling… something that her family was never told about. Carranza told Telemundo that Jocelynn once asked her if she was still planning to send her to school, despite the climate of uncertainty that had settled in the community about the possible incursion of federal agents into the classrooms.

A “no” to bullying, racism or discrimination

This is a widespread fear among immigrant parents and children, exacerbated in the last month after it became known that the Trump administration would allow ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to enter and enforce immigration laws in so-called “sensitive locations” — that is, in places such as churches, hospitals or schools — which, until recently, had functioned as “sanctuary” spaces. Numerous families have reported that their children are fearful, not only because of the idea of being caught in the classroom, but also because of the terror of returning home and finding out that their parents were detained or deported.

On January 29, just days before Jocelynn took her own life, parents received an email from the Gainesville Indepent School District, which referred to the Republican administration’s policies in schools. School officials wrote that they understood that the incidents could cause “feelings of anxiety, worry and fear” in many of the families, students and staff. They also insisted that the district would remain “a place where every child and family is valued, respected and cared for” and expressed willingness to offer the necessary support.

While school officials said they weren’t aware of what was happening among students, other parents have confirmed they were aware of the taunts and threats. Jessi Noble, the mother of one of Jocelynn’s classmates, told CNN that her 11-year-old daughter had come home crying weeks earlier. “People had been telling her friends that were Hispanic that they were getting deported, that ICE was coming for them,” Noble said. “There was talk of, ‘I’m gonna call ICE on your family. You’re gonna get deported.’ Just a lot of fear, a lot of picking at each other.”

Carranza said investigators have closed the case and haven’t communicated “anything concrete” to the family regarding the investigation. However, police authorities maintain that they aren’t finished with their work. The school, for its part, is also conducting its own internal investigations.

Many activists and organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) are demanding that the school district and local police thoroughly investigate “what led to this tragedy, including the bullying allegations, and hold accountable any adults who failed to act.”

“As mandated reporters, school officials had a duty to protect Jocelynn, and if they did nothing, they should face criminal charges,” said Roman Palomares, national president of LULAC, in a statement.

Jocelyn’s death has fueled the anguish already felt by the Hispanic community, constantly besieged and trapped in the Trump administration’s narrative and its insistence on deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. Due to the consequences that this policy is already reaping, the family demands justice for the case.

Antonio, Jocelynn’s father, has called for a rejection of bullying, racism and discrimination. And, in statements made to Telemundo, Jocelynn’s grandmother, Angélica Carranza, also stressed that the incident “cannot be left as it is” and that she doesn’t want “other children to be affected.”

Individuals experiencing suicidal behavior in the United States can call 988, where they will be assisted — free of charge and in Spanish — by people trained as part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. In the state of Texas, the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is available 24 hours a day to answer calls regarding reports of children being harassed at 1-800-252-5400.

Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani

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