11-year-old Dies By Suicide After Classmates Threatened to Call ICE on Family

In the wake of President Trump’s policies targeting immigration in the U.S., immigrant communities have been navigating fear of deportation and family separation. Now a young girl has died by suicide allegedly due to bullying by classmates threatening to call ICE on her family and instilling a fear in her that she’d be left alone. Jocelynn Rojo Carranza, 11, died on February 8 after spending five days in a Dallas hospital after her mom found her unresponsive at home. The sixth grader was taunted by classmates at Gainesville Intermediate School, around 70 miles north of Dallas, her mother Marbella Carranza told Univision.

“I waited a whole week for a miracle that my daughter would be well, but unfortunately nothing could be done,” she told Univision. “My daughter will always live for me, and I will always love her.” Carranza shared that another student was taunting Jocelynn, saying that her family would be deported, and she would be left 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 said.

ICE officials have nearly doubled their daily arrest rate as part of the crackdown since Trump’s inauguration and over 10,000 people have already been deported on military flights, The Independent reported. With widespread fear around deportations, one parent told CNN that her daughter and other students were concerned.

“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,” Jessi Noble told CNN saying her 11-year-old daughter, who is white, told her about comments she heard at school and that she came home crying for three weeks fearing for her Latinx friends.

The Gainesville Independent School District has not responded to media inquiries other than to issue a general statement about its policy to investigate all reports of bullying:

“Whenever we receive a report of bullying, we respond swiftly to ensure all students are safe physically and emotionally. While we cannot release any information about specific students or incidents, our schools have several policies in place to combat bullying and resolve conflicts.”

“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 told CNN. “These are unanswered questions that I still have, why, why did she do it.”

Jocelynn’s father launched a GoFundMe to help raise funds for her family and funeral and updated the account on Feb.15 with an image from her funeral writing: “No al bullying No al racismo …#justiciaparajocelynn.”

Investigations into the case by school police remain ongoing.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, reach out to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, by calling or texting 988 or text AYUDA to 741741 to reach a Spanish-speaking crisis counselor at Crisis Text Line