EXCLUSIVE — A tight-knit Texas family reeling from the loss of two beloved relatives as a result of the worsening border crisis did not hold back in a rare one-on-one meeting this week with Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Texas resident Elisa Tambunga, 27, had one objective when she and her three remaining family members went into a private meeting with Mayorkas in Washington on Wednesday: to create an indelible image in his mind of the faces of innocent people whose lives were stolen as a reckless human smuggler tore through the small town of Ozona, a solid 130 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
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“My goal going in there was to speak to him as a citizen, as a parent, parent to parent. It wasn't to go in there politicizing our tragedy because that's not our goal. But it was to go in there to give him a face to the border crisis. ... It got very personal,” Tambunga said in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
Emilia Tambunga, 7, and her grandmother Maria Tambunga, 71, were killed upon impact on March 13 when a 22-year-old Louisiana man smuggling 11 illegal immigrants in a pickup truck crashed into the Tambungas' truck. The crash was so horrific that their bodies were never taken to the hospital but straight to a local funeral home.
“You have a little 7-year-old girl who weighs 60 pounds being hit with a 7,000-pound vehicle going over 105 miles an hour. There wasn't a shortage of damage done to her,” Elisa Tambunga, who lost her mother and her only child in an instant, said.
She showed before-and-after videos of Emilia Tambunga to Mayorkas, a father of two children, including one with the same name, only spelled differently.
Mayorkas saw videos of a young girl with the “brightest light,” Elisa Tambunga said. Emilia Tambunga was an honor roll student who competed in chess tournaments, was moving her way up in taekwondo, and had planned to take her first Communion in church this month. Then Elisa Tambunga showed him the daughter that she embraced at the funeral home.
“That's video footage I've not shared with anyone, but I felt that he was the one to share it with because he's the one that needed to see what is happening,” Elisa Tambunga said. “I should not have had to hold her cold little body covered in blood. I should not have to have seen her — literally the right side of her skull bashed in. And that's what I shared with him because I needed him to understand the impact that this has.”
Elisa Tambunga and her family, including sister Gin, brother-in-law Tim, and father Emilio, said the losses were felt by an entire community of roughly 3,500 residents in town.
"The flower shop sold out, [so] they started having to make bouquets out of artificial flowers. There were hundreds in attendance for their funeral," Elisa Tambunga said. "My mom was not a woman to say no to anybody. And [people] that were strangers to me were coming up and saying, 'Your mom was there for me when my dad passed away or when my mom was sick.' I had no idea my mom was doing this ... but that's just who she was. These are people that were such a beacon in our community."
The opportunity this week to travel to Washington and discuss how their hometown, 130 miles north of the border, was being affected by the crisis was thanks to an invitation from the congressman for Ozona, Tony Gonzales (R).
Gonzales also hosted the family at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday on the urgency of addressing the crisis, now in its third year with more than 5 million noncitizens encountered trying to enter the United States illegally since President Joe Biden took office.
On Wednesday, the family attended a House Homeland Security Committee hearing where Mayorkas testified. During his questioning, Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), who represents the neighboring district, told Mayorkas about the deaths of the two and informed him that their family was in the room and would welcome an apology.
Mayorkas stood and turned around to face the family and expressed his condolences before agreeing to Pfluger’s follow-up request that he meet the family afterward.
Last month, 71-year-old Maria and 7-year-old Emilia Tambunga were killed in a high-speed crash by a human trafficker smuggling 11 illegal aliens.
— Rep. August Pfluger (@RepPfluger) April 19, 2023
Today I asked DHS Secretary Mayorkas to apologize to the family and finally deliver accountability and action on the border crisis. pic.twitter.com/jyovtb0buT
“The Tambungas' bravery in coming to Washington, D.C., and telling their story of how the border crisis has destroyed their family should be commended," Pfluger said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "We can only hope their heartbreak has finally gotten the attention of the Biden administration to wake them up to the severity of the border crisis.”
Elisa Tambunga said Mayorkas was receptive to what she said, and she left hopeful that he would remember her family's faces when he is called into meetings with Biden about border and immigration policy.
“I want him to know who he's really protecting. I want him to always remember us. Remember the people,” she said. "Our families came from Mexico, but they did it the right way. And we want these families to live the American dream — just like we want it to happen correctly. Because right now, it's chaos, and chaos creates panic, and what happens in panic? Tragedies."
Back in Texas, Elisa Tambunga will continue to push the local district attorney’s office to file charges against the smuggler, who has only been charged in the deaths of two illegal immigrants in the back of his truck, she said.
Texas 112th District Attorney Laurie English did not return a request for comment Thursday, and an office employee said the events surrounding the death of Emilia and Maria Tambunga were “still under investigation” and did not comment on whether law enforcement had referred the case to the prosecutor’s office.
Elisa Tambunga's father, Emilio, wants to see the "book thrown at the smugglers" and enhanced penalties for these types of crimes.
"My dad, 13 years in the Marine Corps, his first mission out of boot camp was the evacuation of Saigon — literally putting his life on the line for what's supposed to be the greatest country. Our country can’t even protect him and his family," Elisa Tambunga said.
Emilio and Elisa plan to move away from their hometown to be closer to family in San Angelo, roughly 80 miles north. Elisa Tambunga and her family were deeply grateful for the help they received from the two elected officials.
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"In no way do we feel that congressman Gonzales or Pfluger have politicized our tragedy. In fact, we're very grateful and thankful that they are helping us," Elisa Tambunga said. "It's comforting knowing that our congressman, the ones who represent us, are working for the people, for us."
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.