A police officer from Brownsville is back on the job after being cleared by a federal jury on charges that she tried smuggle her boyfriend past an immigration checkpoint.

A federal jury in Corpus Christi recently cleared Brownsville Police Officer Valerie Rivas of three separate charges related to human smuggling activity, court docket information revealed. The verdict came after a three-day trial and a short deliberation.

Rivas was originally arrested near the Padre Island National Seashore in late February along with individuals who were in the country illegally, Breitbart Texas reported. The criminal complaint filed by federal agents claimed Rivas arranged for her boyfriend of 12 years, Alfredo Salazar Hernandez, to be smuggled from Brownsville to Victoria, Texas. Salazar was born in Tabasco, Mexico, and despite living in Brownsville for years–he did not have legal status, court documents revealed.

Authorities claimed Salazar was expected to walk along the coast to circumvent a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint along U.S. Highway 77. When Salazar did not arrive at the designated location and learned that members of the smuggling group were arrested, Rivas went to look for him and was apprehended by federal authorities.

According to an interview with defense attorney Micah W. Hatley by The Brownsville Herald’s Mark Reagan, jurors deliberated for 70 minutes before clearing Rivas of the charges. According to Hatley, Rivas and Salazar met in elementary school and began dating since junior high. The attorney claimed that during the trial, no evidence was presented that Rivas made any arrangements “in the planning or execution of the smuggling event” and that when Salazar went missing, she “did what anyone who had a loved one in danger would do, she went to find her boyfriend and help him.”



Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.