Two federal law enforcement agents are dead and new documents show Jamie Avila was in possession of two of the guns that were found at murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s crime scene. Questions from Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) point to Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm’s (ATF) Project Gunwalker as possibly being involved in the killing of the agents.
In a letter dated March 16th from Senator Grassley to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Commissioner Alan Bersin, the senator demands answers regarding the facts in which straw purchaser Jamie Avila was pulled over by CBP agents last summer along the U.S. border with dozens of weapons in his vehicle but was eventually released by (ATF) or with an Assistant U.S. Attorney General’s blessing. This letter also confirms that multiple government agencies knew about the gun-walking program.
The letter reads in part; “CBP officials allegedly stopped Jamie Avila near the border in the spring or summer of 2010. He allegedly had the two WASR-10 rifles in his possession that were later found at the scene of Agent Brian Terry’s murder, along with over thirty additional weapons. CBP officials contacted ATF or an Assistant United States Attorney who allegedly instructed CBP to allow Avila to proceed without seizing the weapons.”
Senator Grassley goes on to inform CBP Commissioner Bersin that he had they better be prepared to answer questions about this incident.
Also Grassley found it troubling that after the murder of two federal agents that ATF didn’t suspend the controversial “gun walking” program sometime last year after they ran into trouble in New Mexico.
“First, on March 8, 2011, federal authorities indicted 11 defendants, including the Mayor and a Police Chief of a small town in New Mexico, for conspiring to smuggle weapons from the United States into Mexico. According to the indictment, on January 14, 2010, Blas Gutierrez and Migel Carillo were pulled over near the border and were found in possession of eight weapons, including three AK-47 type pistols,” Grassley points out in the letter to CBP Commissioner Bersin. “Also according to the indictment, two of the weapons were later smuggled to Mexico, where they were found this month, March 2011.”
Grassley indicates that CBP allegedly stopped the vehicle and after a few questions they let the guns “walk.”
As a result, Border Patrol Agent Terry’s December 16 murder has been racked with secrecy, even though two of the weapons recovered at the scene were part of a controversial ATF “gun walking program.” Multiple sources from the region have reported a virtual lock down of any information regarding Agent Terry’s murder. “Active BP agents have been told to keep quiet or they risk their jobs,” says one retired Border Patrol agent who lives in southern Arizona.
Another retired agent G. Alan Ferguson, author of nafbpo.org/M3 Report says “retired border agents stand with Border Patrol and will not rest until the murderer of Agent Terry is arrested, tried and jailed.”
The controversial ATF program “Fast and Furious” has been credited with ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jamie Zapata’s murder in Mexico as well.
“Operation Fast and Furious” is the program where ATF agents allowed straw buyers (folks who ultimately buy weapons for bad guys like drug cartels) to purchase weapons from gun dealers and let them “walk” south into Mexico. ATF’s Management says they were following these guns, with the help of serial numbers and Mexican authorities, in order to ensnare powerful drug cartel leaders.
It didn’t work and Americans now know thousands of these “walked guns” made their way into the hands of cartel members and most likely will be used to kill numerous Mexican and American nationals.
This outrageous program was initially devised by ATF to turn the tide in Mexico’s drug cartel violence. It tries to trace straw purchased guns as they made their way south of the border. However, retired INS Agent Michael Cutler with 30 years of experience says the notion that any law enforcement officials would allow a gun to walk is ridiculous. “It would be like offering cocktails to drivers at a DUI checkpoint. Guns kill people and it was only a matter of time before these trafficked guns would be responsible for taking a life. Explain to me how this program makes us safer?”
Unfortunately the thousands of weapons that have made their way into the Mexican narco-state will be the proverbial “gift that keeps on giving.”
© Copyright 2011 Kimberly Dvorak All Rights Reserved.