An 11-year-old girl in Texas died by suicide after she was bullied about her family's immigration status, her mother says
A young girl's death by suicide is being investigated by school police after her mother says she was bullied by other students who hurled insults at her, claiming her family was in the US illegally.
Eleven-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza died on February 8, according to an online obituary. Her funeral is today.
Jocelynn was bullied and taunted at school over her family's immigration status, her mother Marbella Carranza told CNN affiliate KUVN.
'They were going to call immigration so they could take her parents away and she would be left alone,' Carranza said. She did not address the immigration status of the family in her interview with KUVN.
Jocelynn attended Gainesville Intermediate School, according to KUVN.
Carranza claims her daughter's school was aware of the alleged bullying but did not tell her, and she only learned her daughter had been receiving counseling at school when investigators told her, Carranza told KUVN. CNN has reached out to the school for comment.
'It appears the school was aware of it all, but they never, they never told me what was happening with my daughter,' Carranza said.
'It appears she would go once or twice a week to counseling to report what was happening,' she told KUVN.
'(I want) Justice because it's not fair - the school was negligent for not keeping me informed of what was going on with my daughter,' she added.
An investigation is underway, Gainesville police said in a statement referring calls to the Gainesville Independent School District Police, which is investigating the bullying allegations.
The Gainesville Independent School District did not acknowledge whether it was aware of reports of bullying against Jocelynn.
'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,' the district told CNN in a statement.
Another school in the district called the incident a 'serious accident' in an email to parents that did not address the bullying allegations.
Carranza described the day she found her daughter, on February 3, to KUVN.
'When I got home, they were still working on her, trying to revive her, she had been without life for a long time,' she said.
Carranza said Jocelynn told her every day that she loved her.
'I remember her fondly because she was a very happy girl, she was a joyful girl,' she said.
Jocelynn is remembered as 'a wonderful daughter, sister, niece and friend to everyone,' in the online obituary.
She played the French horn, made TikTok videos, swam, did cartwheels and spent Friday nights watching movies with her family, according to the obituary.
'She loved when her grandma took her to get her nails done,' the obituary reads.
This is a developing story.
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