FIRST ON FOX: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is being ripped by critics accusing him of making a «disgusting» decision to be absent during a vote on a Texas bill to automatically deny bail to illegal immigrants charged with violent felonies 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 voting on a bill dubbed by state lawmakers «Jocelyn’s Law,» in honor of slain Houston preteen Jocelyn Nungaray. The measure, which would have added a Texas constitutional amendment to deny bail to illegal immigrants charged with violent felonies, ended up failing due to lack of bipartisan support. 

Before being absent for the final vote, Talarico voted against killing two amendments to the bill that would have exempted immigrants present in the country on humanitarian parole, an order of supervision, a pending green card application, trafficking or Violence Against Women Act victim protections, visa extension applications, deferred action or Temporary Protected Status. 

He is now taking flak over his absence as he runs for U.S. Senate in one of the states most impacted by illegal immigrant crime. Nungaray, 12, was sexually assaulted and killed, allegedly by two Venezuelan illegal immigrants, in a Houston neighborhood in June 2024.

Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, slammed Talarico for what he said amounts to helping to kill the bill, saying, «It is disgusting that James Talarico is letting his anti-American agenda show by siding with a violent illegal over a Texas family.»

DA TO SEEK DEATH PENALTY AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ACCUSED IN NUNGARAY MURDER CASE

Kraft told Fox News Digital that Talarico’s alleged opposition to the bill has «once again … proven his priority is criminals, not the safety of Texans.»

JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, pushed back on this, telling Fox News Digital that «James is a law and order Democrat who supports prosecuting violent felons, and has a proven track record voting for tighter bail laws for violent offenders and voting repeatedly to increase funding for Texas police.»

Ennis added that «while [incumbent Sen.] John Cornyn, [challenger Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton, and the billionaires who prop them up lie about James’ record, he will continue standing up against both political parties to fix this broken, corrupt political system.»

Texas bore much of the brunt of the border crisis during the Biden administration.

Prosecutors say Nungaray was abducted, sexually assaulted and strangled. Her body was later found in a creek drainage area. Two men, Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, both Venezuelan nationals illegally present in the U.S., have been charged with capital murder in the case.

JAMES TALARICO IS NEWEST TEXAS DEMOCRAT MEDIA DARLING, BUT DREAMS OF STATE ‘GOING BLUE’ HAVE LONG BEEN DASHED

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 U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, in early 2024. However, they were released on their own recognizance under the Biden administration into the U.S. The murder happened just months after their illegal entry.

According to data gathered by the House Homeland Security Committee toward the end of the Biden administration, there were more than 10.8 million border encounters and roughly two million known gotaways under former President Joe Biden.

Against this backdrop, Talarico has been criticized as soft on crime and pro-defund the police, the latter of which he has denied as a «flat-out lie.»

During his time in the Texas House, he has also voted against the Damon Allen Act, a bill that restricted 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 for anyone accused of violent sexual offenses or trafficking.

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Franklin Jose Peña Ramos and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel have been charged in the killing of Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston, Texas, on Monday, June 17. (Harris County Jail)

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On the immigration issue, Talarico has taken heat for saying in 2019 that «undocumented Americans» are «also my constituents.»

In a graphic put out by United We Dream, an activist group that supports abolishing U.S. 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 instructed people not to sign any documentation without an attorney and to «fight back.»

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

EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force has withheld $1.4 billion in federal funding from home health and hospice providers nationwide, following a wave of suspensions enacted by an anti-fraud task force targeting operations in California, Minnesota and several other states.

Approximately 90% of the suspended providers have not reached out to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency tasked with combating fraud, waste and abuse, since payments have been suspended.

Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that they believe lack of communication between alleged fraudulent providers and CMS indicates that the providers were not legitimate enterprises.

The suspended group includes long-term providers who have been pocketing federal funds for years while failing to communicate with CMS, a senior Trump administration source told Fox News Digital.

«The Vice President’s task force continues to stop the flow of taxpayer funds before they fall into the hands of fraudsters and deliver savings to the American people,» a spokesperson for Vice President JD Vance told Fox News Digital. «This is great momentum in the fight for the President’s War on Fraud.»

LOS ANGELES COUNTY FACES SCRUTINY AFTER ALLEGED WIDESPREAD HOSPICE FRAUD EXPOSED

President Donald Trump has made the eradication of systemic fraud a cornerstone of his administration’s domestic policy. On Monday, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz blasted California officials over the state’s hospice crisis, charging that the fraud is «stealing your lives» and pointing to a sophisticated web of international graft.

«We’ve got Russian government involvement, we believe, in Los Angeles. We’ve got the Chinese government involved in a big fraud ring in New York,» Oz told guest host Kayleigh McEnany on «Jesse Watters Primetime.» «And, of course, the Cuban connection… pointed out to me by former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. We’ve got twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers—selling wheelchairs and canes—as there are McDonald’s in South Florida. The owners often flee back to Cuba with the money the moment we move in on them.»

Last month, Fox News Digital uncovered the suspension of 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies suspected of fraud in Los Angeles alone, with the total theft estimated at more than $600 million.

Days later, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) referred 562,000 suspected fraudulent loans — totaling over $22.2 billion — to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for collection. These loans largely originated from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.

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The SBA noted these files were flagged for suspected fraud during the Biden administration but were never sent to the Treasury Department for recovery.

«The task force has made clear that the Biden Administration’s policy of giving direct cash payments to fraudsters is over,» a senior White House official told Fox News Digital.

In April, the head of a California hospice advocacy group warned congressional lawmakers that industry fraud is flourishing across the state. Sheila Clark, president and CEO of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association (CHAPCA), questioned how these «ghost» providers managed to evade regulators for so long.

«You’d be amazed at how many hospices… you can walk up to the door in California and there is nobody there. You can see five months’ worth of mail stacked up,» Clark told the House Ways and Means Committee during an April 22 hearing. «And yet, they passed a survey. How did that happen?»

«How do you put a hospice in a burrito stand? How do you put a hospice in a retail store?» she quipped. «That all had to be vetted through licensure, certification and accreditation.»

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently announced the arrest of five individuals linked to an alleged multi-million-dollar hospice scheme that reportedly raked in $267 million through fraudulent billing to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

The Trump administration has intensified its focus on the abuse of taxpayer funds following last year’s arrests connected to the «Feeding Our Future» scheme in Minnesota—a massive «sham meal» operation that allegedly defrauded the government of hundreds of millions of dollars.

¿Por qué es tan importante la reunión entre Trump y Xi?

Donald Trump habla con los medios en el Jardín Sur antes de partir. Foto: Bloomberg

¿Qué buscan Trump y Xi?

Banderas de ambos países ondean en Beijing. Foto: Reuters

¿Que podría suceder finalmente?