EXCLUSIVE — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has debuted a series of billboards across the state aimed at exposing how his Democratic opponent, lawyer Rochelle Garza, represented a convicted human smuggler in court despite campaigning as tough on border crime.
Paxton’s campaign on Monday paid for massive billboards in Dallas, Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio that pretend to advertise Garza’s services as a defense attorney for human smugglers, the Washington Examiner was first to learn Monday.
“Busted for human trafficking? Rochelle Garza will defend you!” one billboard states, along with a picture of Garza holding up an altered paper that tells readers to text “Busted” to 82762, which connects to Paxton’s campaign.
A second ad has identical text but a different picture.
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Garza had told local news outlet WFAA last week that she supported consequences for immigration crimes.
“I know the complexities of immigration law. I know that we can combat human trafficking and gun trafficking and also treat people humanely,” Garza said.
Paxton told the Washington Examiner that the ads are meant to point to a double standard in how Garza has vowed to stand up to human traffickers and how she was privately hired as a lawyer to defend two people charged with these crimes.
“Rochelle Garza may have firsthand experience dealing with human traffickers, but the catch is that she was working to enable these criminals by defending them in court,” Paxton said in a statement. “At a time when dangerous cartels traffic illegal immigrants across our border, electing an Attorney General with the experience and willingness to prosecute these vicious criminals is critical to Texans’ safety — which is why voters must reject Rochelle Garza and her radical, open-borders agenda.”
In a statement shared with the Washington Examiner following publication, Garza’s campaign spokeswoman Marcy Miranda said the billboards were an attempt to direct attention away from his own legal troubles.
“Paxton is lying about Garza to distract from his own dismal record. Not only is Paxton under FBI investigation himself, his office has let human traffickers off the hook,” Miranda wrote, referring to cases it dropped against several alleged human smugglers.
Paxton faces his own troubles as the center of an FBI investigation for abuse of office and bribery. He is still facing felony securities fraud charges for a different case in 2015.
In June 2017, the U.S. government brought a criminal complaint against Mexican citizen Alma Delia Marin-Fuentes for illegally entering the United States from Mexico after being deported the previous year and transporting illegal immigrants. That month, the defendant filed a motion in court for Garza to replace the government-provided public defender. Garza signed on for two weeks, then was taken off the case by the defendant.
Then, in March 2018, U.S. citizen Christian Ivan Hernandez was arrested on charges of transporting and harboring illegal immigrants from the border. Hernandez terminated his public defender and hired Garza. He terminated Garza after one week for reasons unknown. The defendants in both cases went on to be convicted.
As a candidate and former American Civil Liberties Union employee, Garza has branded herself as an immigration attorney from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, a predominantly Hispanic part of the state. Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Paxton is running for a third term as the state’s chief attorney. Texas does not have term limits for attorneys general.
Paxton has a small lead over Garza four weeks ahead of Election Day. Recent polling by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation found that 47% of likely voters backed Paxton, compared to 42% who preferred Garza.
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Early voting begins Oct. 24. The election is Nov. 8.
