Free Republic

Lawyers representing the family of slain ICE agent Jaime Zapata say they have filed a wrongful death claim against the federal government. Zapata and Victor Avila, also a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, were forced off a Mexico highway by cartel gunmen in February 2011. Zapata was shot multiple times and killed. Avila survived the attack. The complaint alleges the agents should not have been tasked with driving through a dangerous area of Mexico to transport “sensitive equipment.” It also claims the U.S. government allowed the guns used in the attack to be smuggled into Mexico, after purchase by...

When U.S. special agent Jaime Zapata was shot dead one year ago on a notorious stretch of highway in central Mexico, he was driving a $160,000 armored Chevy Suburban, built to exacting government standards, designed to defeat high-velocity gunfire, fragmentation grenades and land mines. But the vehicle had a basic, fatal flaw. Forced off the road in a well-coordinated ambush, surrounded by drug cartel gunmen brandishing AK-47s, Zapata and his partner, Victor Avila, rolled to a stop. Zapata put the vehicle in park. The door locks popped up. That terrifying sound — a quiet click — set into motion events...