- Crime victims who attended a recent Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee meeting have accused Democrat State Representatives Ana-Maria Ramos and Rhetta Bowers of disrespectful conduct
- Liberal advocacy groups such as the Texas Organizing Project and the American Civil Liberties Union had an active presence at the hearing
- George Soros and personal injury trial lawyers were among the biggest donors to efforts to elect Democrat judges in Harris County last year
Members of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee heard testimony last week on several bills to reform the bail system, including proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution that would allow bail to be denied to defendants charged with violent offenses, continuous trafficking of persons, first-degree felony sexual offenses, and that would require bail be denied to an illegal alien charged with a felony.
Many crime victims and victims’ advocates attended the hearing to support the bail reform bills. Those testifying at the hearing included Alexis Nungaray, the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl whose brutal murder at the hands of two illegal immigrant gang members from Venezuela made national headlines.
While the crime victims shared powerful and emotional stories about their personal experiences, some of those in attendance expressed dismay with the treatment they received from some Democrat members of the Committee.
Michelle Chapa, a crime victim from Houston who has been a vocal advocate for stronger bail policies, was one of the victims who shared her story with the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. In an interview with The Texas Voice, Chapa singled out Democrat State Representatives Ana-Maria Ramos and Rhetta Bowers for disrespecting the crime victims who attended the hearing, describing them as “cold and callous”.
“Being a victim or survivor of violent crime is already a heavy burden. Speaking publicly about that loss and trauma takes even greater courage. This past week, a group of us—crime victims and survivors—went to the state capitol to testify before the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on public safety bills. We are a mix of Democrats and Republicans united by our experiences, not politics. Both parties sit on this Committee. What we encountered was a stark divide in how we were treated.
Special interest groups like [the Texas Organizing Project (“TOP”)] and Pure Justice dominated the hearing room. Their pre-planned testimony and sheer numbers filled the space, intimidating victims and families waiting to speak. They were welcomed by some on the Committee; we were not. Republican committee members engaged with us thoughtfully—listening, asking questions, and thanking us for our courage. Their empathy stood out. The same treatment was shown with several of the Democrats as well. But two members, Representatives Bowers and Ramos, were a different story. They avoided eye contact, ignored our words, and even walked out mid-testimony. Yet when TOP and Pure Justice spoke, Representative Ramos lavished them with dramatic thanks and attention.
When Representative Bowers shared her Domestic Violence bill, I listened with a heavy heart. As a survivor of intimate partner violence, I felt her pain. But when our turn came, she didn’t return that compassion. Both she and Ramos were cold and callous, saving their warmth for the paid special interest groups. We came to speak for justice, not to be silenced by bias,” said Chapa.
Chapa was not the only attendee critical of the way some Democrats created crime victims at the hearing.
“From my perspective it was disturbing to watch some of the committee members condescending behavior and blatant disregard of human decency to surviving family members of homicide,” wrote Andy Kahan of Crime Stoppers of Houston in a tweet. Kahan’s comment was in response to a post by another crime victims’ advocate who criticized the conduct of some lawmakers at the hearing.
In addition to attending the hearing, leftist advocacy groups, including the Texas Organizing Project, Pure Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the Texas Jail Project, participated in a press conference at the Texas Capitol on the day of the hearing.
The Texas Voice has previously reported that some of the largest donors to TOP’s political arm include George Soros and Rachel Gelman, a California heiress who has advocated for the abolition of police and prisons. TOP’s efforts to post bail for Defendants received media attention in 2023 after a man who had previously been bailed out of jail by TOP went on a crime spree that left six dead and others injured.
Republicans on the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee asked pointed questions of representatives of the liberal advocacy groups during the hearing.
“Do you think that the two Venezuelan nationals who raped and killed Ms. Nungaray’s daughter should enjoy the same protections of the United States Constitution as her daughter does?” asked State Representative Mitch Little of Andrew Hendrickson of the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Yes,” replied Hendrickson.
After the hearing, Little took to social media to criticize the testimony the Committee heard from the ACLU and other liberal activists.
“The usual suspects are standing in the way of reform and safety. Even after hearing testimony from several witnesses impacted by violent crime, the ACLU seems more concerned with the rights of illegal aliens than the rights of Texans,” wrote Little. “For social justice activists, there will never be enough dead Texans to reform a corrupted bail system staring us in the face and eating Houston from the inside out.”
According to campaign finance records, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association PAC was the largest donor to Ramos’ and Bowers’ campaigns during the 2024 election cycle. The First Tuesday PAC, which was responsible for one of the largest efforts to turn out votes for down-ballot Democrats, including Judges that many crime victims’ advocates have criticized for being soft on crime, received the bulk of its funding from trial lawyers, personal injury law firms, George Soros, and two political committees largely funded by Soros.
