On murder-by-immigrant story, Summer Lee alienates her constituents

PITTSBURGH — Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), whose district covers the entire city limits of Pittsburgh , told a reporter on Wednesday as she walked down the halls of the Cannon House Office Building that because she lives here , she has no knowledge of a national news story.

Lee was asked by a reporter yesterday if she had any thoughts about Jocelyn Nungaray, the 12-year-old Houston child who was allegedly raped and murdered by illegal aliens. Lee repeatedly told the reporter that because she lives in Pittsburgh, she had no idea about it.

“I don’t know who she is,” she said repeatedly to the reporter, inferring that she only reads stories about Pittsburgh.

Law enforcement and authorities said Nungaray was allegedly assaulted for hours before being strangled to death under a bridge 11 days ago by suspects Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21. Both men crossed the border illegally last month.

Both men have been charged with capital murder.

Lee later emerged from her office with the reporter asking her where she stood on the Biden administration’s policy of paroling migrants apprehended crossing the border illegally. Lee told her she’d have to look up that policy.

Youngstown State political scientist Paul Sracic said there is a lot to unpack in Lee’s response, but none of it good for her or her constituents in western Pennsylvania.

“She is a member of Congress who votes on national issues,” Sracic explained. “She is not a county commissioner or a state house member. It is her duty to her constituents to pay attention to big national stories.”

Sracic said this version of “no comment” is likely not something her constituents want to see.

“Her spin on it is particularly damaging because she is disparaging her constituents in order to get around not answering the question,” he said. “Your job is to vote on national issues. It is incumbent for you to be aware of national issues.”

A poll done this week in Pennsylvania by the UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, showed respondents saying the border ranks just below economic issues such as inflation as their top issue going into the voting booth.

Sracic said her response plays into the Democrats' problem of thinking their constituents are so uninformed that they would not pay attention to national news, in particular an issue that is one of the top concerns with voters in Pennsylvania in poll after poll.

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The story is one of the top in the country; the New York Times reported the story , as did the Washington Post. And if Lee only consumes news about Pittsburgh, the local Pittsburgh newspaper, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review , also reported it prominently.

Lee faces Republican James Hayes in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, which leans heavily Democratic.