On the eve of her 16th birthday, Brentwood Ross High School student Nisa Mickens was bludgeoned to death near her Long Island, New York, home by members of the vicious MS-13 gang.

Her best friend, Kayla Cuevas, was also murdered in the same September 2016 attack; the girls had been walking down a street. Sadly, the teenagers were only two in a much longer list who lost their lives to the Central American gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 — which has killed at least 25 people in Suffolk County, Long Island, according to Pix 11.

Three of the four responsible for taking the life of Nisa Mickens were illegal immigrants.

During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Donald Trump addressed the parents of the slain girls, who were there that night at his invitation. He assured them he was working to close loopholes in U.S. immigration laws, some of which played a role in the presence of MS-13 in their Brentwood neighborhood. The families were visibly weeping in the gallery as the president offered them his heartfelt condolences, letting them know members of Congress and their fellow Americans were grieving along with them.

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In an exclusive interview Wednesday night on “The Ingraham Angle,” Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens described to Fox News host Laura Ingraham their reactions to the invitation, the speech itself, and the post-speech commentary.

“It was definitely an honor, and we were still shocked about receiving the invite,” said Robert Mickens.

Elizabeth Alvarado described the experience as “overwhelming.” She said she appreciated the opportunity to visit with President Trump before the speech, describing it as “an honor.”

“When we walked into his office …  I had Nisa’s pin on me, so I asked him if he would take it as a gift. He took pictures with it. He is very genuine,” said Alvarado.

Ingraham asked how they felt when many of the Democrats in attendance refused to stand when their slain daughter was recognized during the speech. Mickens responded, “I thought it was very disrespectful … [Some] were African-Americans, so that hurts me a lot [that] they did not have the respect to honor what just happened  to our lives and to America’s lives. It’s not right, you know, regardless of how they feel about the president. They should show their respect because I would show them the respect if that was their loved one.”

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“Some of us were literally crying with you,” Ingraham told the couple, who were wearing T-shirts displaying photos of their daughter. They were seated in front of a wall filled with what appeared to be other photos and memorabilia of the child so cruelly taken from them.

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Alvarado’s response was gracious and thoughtful when Ingraham pointed out that MSNBC’s Joy Reid — the host of another cable network — had insinuated that MS-13 was unimportant, and that only viewers of Fox News would have heard of them.

“These are gang members that just decided to be judge and jury to take my daughter out like that. It’s unacceptable,” she said, the pain showing on her face and in her entire demeanor. “I don’t want it to happen to anybody else’s family. But something needs to be done. And I won’t stop doing what I’m doing until everything turns out right. I can only hope and pray.”

She added, “Gang members, please stop the violence. It’s enough. How much more blood do we have to shed?”

Michele Blood is a freelance writer based in Flemington, New Jersey.