La Santa Muerte<\/a>. He then received a call from BCSO informing him that he had been disqualified from working for the agency.<\/p>\nA recruiting deputy then sent Borges a message that read, \u201cI just called my sergeant, and It (sic) was disapproved apparently by the sheriff for the Santa Muerte. Unfortunately, he has the final decision and it can\u2019t be turned. I\u2019m sorry about that, they honestly didn\u2019t let me know till today so I apologize and wish you the best of luck in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millions of followers of La Santa Muerte believe the folk saint aids them in matters of health, fortune and protection from harm.<\/p>\n
The saint\u2019s image, however, has also become synonymous with criminal culture and drug cartels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be bad apples in every group. There\u2019s always going to be people who take what is supposed to be good and what is true about whatever you\u2019re worshipping and take it to the extremes,\u201d Stephany Borges told KSAT in 2024. \u201cAnd her image was just something that they took.\u201d <\/p>\n
Stephany Borges said BCSO deputies defiled her personal altar by photographing it without her permission.<\/p>\n
Luis Borges\u2019 attorney, Mark Anthony Sanchez, told KSAT Thursday the settlement documents will be finalized soon and that his client is \u201cpleased\u201d with the out of court settlement:<\/p>\n
As counsel for Mr. Luis Rafael Borges, I have always believed that the freedoms protected by the First Amendment\u2014including the fundamental right to religious liberty and freedom of association\u2014are among the most sacred rights guaranteed by our Constitution. When powerful government officials trample those constitutional protections, they must be held accountable. From the outset of this case, I vigorously defended Mr. Borges and his constitutional right to be free from government punishment based upon religious beliefs or associations. This case was never simply about one employment decision. It was about whether government officials may punish a citizen because of the religious beliefs present within his household. I firmly believed the answer was no. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission conducted its own independent investigation and found reasonable cause to believe that Mr. Borges was denied employment because of his association with his wife\u2019s sincerely held religious beliefs. In addition, the federal court rejected Defendants\u2019 efforts to dismiss the core constitutional claims asserted in this lawsuit and allowed the case to proceed. These developments reinforced my belief in the merits of Mr. Borges\u2019s claims. We are pleased that the parties were able to resolve this matter out of court. The outcome sends an important message: constitutional rights matter, religious liberty matters, and no person\u2014regardless of title, position, or political power\u2014is above the law. Mr. Borges showed tremendous courage in standing up for his rights, and I am proud to have represented him in that effort.<\/p>\n
Mark Anthony Sanchez, attorney for Luis Borges<\/p>\n
Sanchez previously told KSAT he had offered Salazar and his command staff an hour of free legal training on how to comply with the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
Commissioners approved the six-figure settlement near the end of their May 26 meeting, after discussing the lawsuit in executive session.<\/p>\n
The Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office released the following statement Thursday: <\/p>\n
To avoid the continued expense, uncertainty, and diversion of public resources associated with ongoing litigation, Bexar County made a business decision to resolve Mr. Borges\u2019 claims through court-ordered mediation. The matter was resolved after the parties accepted a Mediator\u2019s Settlement Proposal. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission previously issued an administrative determination stating that there was reasonable cause to believe that actions taken by the Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office may have been influenced by Mr. Borges\u2019 association with an individual whose religious beliefs included La Santa Muerte, that determination was a preliminary administrative finding and not a judicial determination of liability. Bexar County continues to deny that any actions taken by the Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office violated Title VII or any other applicable law. The settlement reflects a practical business decision to resolve disputed claims and avoid the substantial costs, risks, and burdens associated with continued litigation. Bexar County remains committed to providing equal employment opportunities and complying with all applicable federal and state employment laws.<\/p>\n
Bexar County District Attorney’s Office<\/p>\n
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page<\/a>.<\/p>\nCopyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A San Antonio man hired as a detention officer for the Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4755,815,23655,4976,115616,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-323263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-bcso","tag-courts","tag-javier-salazar","tag-ksat-investigates","tag-la-santa-muerte","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}