On the day after Christmas in 2004, an Indian Ocean tsunami wiped out more than 225,000 people and, no doubt, caused many millions of atheists to wonder aloud where God was. And I remember thinking at the time that I couldn’t blame them.

Years later, the late pastor Timothy Keller addressed precisely this issue in his bestselling book The Reason for God, and I was thankful for it, thankful to have such a learned man talk me through it. He wrote that just because our minds “can’t plumb the depths of the universe for good answers to suffering” doesn’t mean there isn’t a good and powerful God. “This,” he said, “is blind faith of a high order.”

This week, I’m reminded of Pastor Keller’s words as I ponder the luring away and the rape-torture-murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray by two illegal immigrants from Venezuela. In a fallen world of seemingly endless evil and brutality, this particular crime still manages to shock the senses. As the New York Post reports:

Little Jocelyn Nungaray fought back against her attackers after she was lured under a Houston bridge and assaulted for two hours — leaving scratch and bite marks on one of the illegal migrants who is accused of killing her, prosecutors revealed Tuesday.

Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 21, still had the marks Jocelyn left on him when he was arrested, Assistant District Attorney Megan Long said in a Harris County court.

Martinez-Rangel’s alleged accomplice, Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, told cops he tried to convince Martinez-Rangel to stop but he allegedly refused and climbed on top of the girl and strangled her, according to Long.

Here, it’s admittedly in poor taste to launch into politics, so I’ll take the hit. But I can’t help it. This, after all, was a crime that didn’t have to happen. Democrats know it, too, which is why they’ve once again averted their collective gaze. Fox News’s Hillary Vaughn exposed this poker tell when she took to the corridors of Capitol Hill yesterday to ask congressional Democrats what they thought about this particular crime, this rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.

When Vaughn caught up with Pennsylvania’s Summer Lee, the congresswoman condescendingly cut her off, saying, “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t talk to strangers. I don’t even know who you are, and I don’t know who she is. I’m out of Pittsburgh.”

Fox News Hillary Vaughn asked Democrat Rep. Summer Lee (PA) about the murder of Jocelyn Nungaray. This is her disgusting response. They don’t care about Americans! pic.twitter.com/0UTuVg4a9a

— Kim (@Texasgirlkiwi) June 27, 2024

She’s out of Pittsburgh.

At least hard-left Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the Pride of Seattle, nervously stated the obvious: “These are horrible incidents, and I think anyone who conducts that kind of terrible act has to be prosecuted.”

But then Jayapal added what’s come to be something of a nervous tick among Democrats: “But as we know,” she said, “the research is that undocumented immigrants commit far fewer crimes than anyone else.”

California’s Robert Garcia and New York’s Jerry Nadler threw up pretty much the same smokescreen: “If you look at the statistics,” said Nadler, “the crime rate among immigrants is far lower than the crime rate among native-born Americans.”

None of them offered any evidence of this, of course — nor could they because, as our Mark Alexander has been noting for nearly two years, we don’t keep a national database of illegal immigrant crime.

Yes, yes, native-born Americans commit crimes. But this crime wasn’t a fait accompli. This crime didn’t have to happen. And it wouldn’t have happened if Joe Biden hadn’t reflexively rescinded all of Donald Trump’s demonstrably effective border-control policies immediately upon taking office.

The conclusion is inescapable: The death of Jocelyn Nungaray is on Joe Biden’s hands, and it’s on the hands of everyone who’s enabled his policies. This, of course, includes impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who proclaimed yesterday that “the safety and security of the American public is indeed our highest priority.”

Nonsense. If such a thing were true, he’d have long since resigned.

The avoidance and the nervousness, though, aren’t limited to leftist lawmakers and administration water-carriers. Consider Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo, who blamed Trump for Jocelyn Nungaray’s murder right before she admonished everyone else not to politicize it. Credit to the reporter who immediately called her out for it.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo blames Trump for 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungray’s brutal kiIIing and r*pe by 2 illegal aliens.

She then says NOT to politicize it.

A reporter instantly calls her out: pic.twitter.com/jinwdSVqp0

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 26, 2024

At tonight’s debate, Biden will also try to blame the illegal immigration crisis on Trump. He’ll claim that Congress never granted him the power he’s been asking for, and he’ll claim that Republicans refused to pass that godawful immigration bill coauthored by one of their own, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford. Sentient beings know this is all rubbish, but low-information voters will be susceptible to it.

Which is why, tonight, Donald Trump must challenge Joe Biden to say young Jocelyn Nungaray’s name.

That’s just what her mother wants.