FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – U.S. Senator John Cornyn came to Fort Worth Monday, Dec. 6 to recognize retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Victor Avila and pay tribute to his partner Jaime Zapata, who was killed while they were on assignment in Mexico on February 15, 2011.
Cornyn presented a copy of the new law named the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act.
During the ceremony, Avila said, “It’s a somber moment. It’s a bittersweet moment.”
Cornyn said, “This is a day of solemn remembrance and honoring the service of people like Victor and Jaime.”
While they were driving an armored Chevy Suburban with diplomatic plates, they were repeatedly shot and ambushed by members of the Los Zetas drug cartel.
Avila said, “I was shot three times: once in my chest, twice in my left leg, and I’m here by the grace of God. It was a horrific attack – over 100 rounds shot at us.”
The members of the drug cartel were brought to the U.S., prosecuted, and convicted. But their convictions were overturned because of a loophole in the federal law.
That was nearly two years ago.
An appeals court ruled it wasn’t a federal crime because the murder happened outside the U.S.
Avila said, “It was devastating news to myself and the Zapata family and I just couldn’t sit down and do nothing about it.”
He said he reached out to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and to Senator Cornyn, who introduced the bill that ultimately passed and was signed...
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