An employee at a district attorney’s office in South Texas will spend up to three years in federal prison for using a government vehicle to smuggle migrants.

This week, Bernice Anette Garza went before U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos in McAllen, who sentenced her to three years in federal prison for her role in a migrant smuggling operation where she used a vehicle belonging to the 229 th District Attorney’s Office in an attempt to avoid detection by authorities. At the time of the conspiracy, Garza had been working as a victim coordinator for the DA’s office and had been using the vehicle and various work documents to smuggle migrants.

Garza pleaded guilty in 2024 and had been out on bond awaiting her sentencing hearing this week. Documents from the 2024 plea hearing reveale

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