EL PASO, Texas (KTEP) - District Attorney Bill Hicks says the former assistant DA tried to keep the widow of a mass shooting victim from crossing the border.
Hicks said law enforcement should treat information provided by Curtis Cox as “suspect,” in a letter Wednesday.
“We specifically disavow any statements made by ADA Cox regarding Ms. Rosa Maria Valdez Garcia,” Hicks wrote in the letter dated February 8th.
Hicks said the previous administration “should never have attempted to influence in any way,” the immigration status or ability for Rosa Maria Valdez Garcia to cross into the U.S.
Valdez Garcia is the widow of Alexander Hoffman, one of the 23 victims gunned down in the Walmart attack in 2019. She lives in Ciudad Juarez and had a visa to cross into El Paso.
“I am stating that the District Attorney’s office should have no part in an immigration decision here, and therefore any representations made by anyone previously associated with or on behalf of this office are not valid,” Hicks told KTEP News.
Valdez-Garcia and her sons Thomas and Alexander Hoffman live in Juárez and have crossed the border to attend court hearings. They were given special permission to be present at a hearing where the accused gunman in the Walmart mass shooting pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges, including hate crimes this week.
Hicks' statement is the first official acknowledgement from the new district attorney’s office about the previous DA’s office attempt to keep Valdez Garcia from crossing into El Paso.
Last September, Valdez Garcia’s appointed attorney Justin Underwood filed a court notice that stated she had freely crossed into the U.S. with a SENTRI pass, according to court documents.
The same month, she was detained by Customs and Border Protection for questioning. She was held in custody for seven hours and informed her SENTRI pass had been revoked, court documents state.
A Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the abrupt change, confirmed her pass had undergone a review process.
In his letter, Hicks details Cox attempts to target Hoffman’s widow by sending emails to federal law enforcement agencies about Valdez Garcia.
“I specifically disavow any attempt by former ADA Cox to effect her ability to enter or remain with the United States. Hicks’ letter reads. “I would ask that any information provided by Mr. Cox be treated as suspect and regarded as being specifically disavowed by this office.”
Cox resigned from his position as a top prosecutor for former DA Yvonne Rosales’ administration in November. Facing removal from office, she resigned in December. Both invoked the fifth amendment right to remain silent during a hearing last year.
Family ‘terrified’ of Rosales, DA’s office and Rodriguez
The court appointed attorney Justin Underwood to represent the Hoffman family. Shortly after, allegations came out the Hoffmans were threatened and harrased in October.
Underwood said the DA’s office along with former Vinton municipal judge Rogelio “Roger” Rodriguez were involved.
“The Hoffman’s have repeatedly told me that they are terrified of District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, Assistant District Attorney Curtis Cox and Roger Rodriguez,” a court filing by Underwood stated. “They informed me they have been continually victimized by Rodriguez who told them that he was acting on behalf of the District Attorney’s office.”
According to court documents and testimony from the Hoffmans and former prosecutor John Briggs, the family was introduced to Rodriguez after a hearing on July 1, 2022.
In Underwood’s court filing, Rodriguez allegedly warned the Hoffmans not to attend a scheduled hearing on August 17.
“If you go back for anything regarding the hearing, Yvonne Rosales would not look kindly on it,” the report states. “She has people everywhere.”
He allegedly told the family to avoid phone calls from the DA’s office so prosecutors could represent they could not reach them. According to court documents and testimony from the Hoffmans, Rodriguez allegedly told them he had “snipers everywhere,” and threatened them with a gun at a Village Inn.
Underwood’s filing alleged DA Rosales and Rodriguez promised to grant Garcia Valdez’s sons Thomas and Alexander visas. Rodriguez has not responded to any of KTEP News requests for comment or an interview.
In his letter Hicks wrote about the former assistant DA, “I want to make clear that absolutely none of the statements made by Mr. Curtis Cox to any state or federal law enforcement agency represents the policy, procedure or current stance of this District Attorney’s office.