Alfonso "Poncho" Nevárez Jr. is a former Democratic member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

. First elected in 2012, Nevárez announced in November 2019 that he would not seek re-election in 2020. This decision was ultimately connected to his arrest for cocaine possession later that month.

Texas House of Representatives

Nevárez ran for and won the seat after longtime Democratic incumbent Pete Gallego left the office to make a successful run for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. In May 2017, Republican state representative Matt Rinaldi called

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

(ICE) officers on protesters holding signs claiming to be

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

at the state capitol. After calling ICE, Rinaldi said that Nevárez "threatened my life on the House floor." Nevárez said that he put his hands on Rinaldi and told him to take his argument outside the House chamber, but denied threatening Rinaldi’s life. At the end of the 86th Texas legislative session in 2019, ''Texas Monthly'' included Nevárez on its 2019 "Worst Legislators" list. The magazine cited, among other reasons for the negative recognition, "Nevárez had used his own bill to try to turn a favor for a politically influential company that operates a radioactive waste dump in West Texas—a dump that’s not even in his district." In November 2019, Nevárez announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2020. Nevárez chaired the Border Security and Public Safety Committee, which oversaw the law enforcement agencies that were investigating him.

Cocaine possession charges

Surveillance footage showed Nevárez dropping an envelope stuffed with

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

as he was leaving

Austin–Bergstrom International Airport Austin–Bergstrom International Airport, or ABIA , is an international airport in Austin, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Located about southeast of downtown, it covers and has two runways and three heli ...

in September 2019. Nevárez confirmed the cocaine was his and that the incident was the reason he was not seeking re-election. A warrant was issued for his arrest on

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...

drug possession The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. An area has a prohibition of drugs when its government uses the for ...

charges. On November 15, Nevárez turned himself in to authorities, and was released after posting a $10,000 bond.

Personal life

Born in

Eagle Pass, Texas Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County, Texas, United States. Its population was 28,130 as of the 2020 census. Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the ...

, he is the son of Alfonso Nevárez Sr. and Guillermina Castillon.Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 Nevárez was the first member of his family to graduate from college. In 1999, Nevárez graduated from St. Mary's University School of Law.

References

External links

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Legislative page
Living people Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas Texas politicians convicted of crimes 1972 births People from Eagle Pass, Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni St. Mary's University School of Law alumni 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature {{Texas-politician-stub