Biden Excludes Families of Murdered U.S. Agents from Ceremony for Act Written in Agents’ Names
Joe Biden excluded the family members of two special agents killed in the line of duty from the signing ceremony of the act that was actually written in the agents’ names!
Last week, Biden signed the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act, but there were people missing from the ceremony; the family members of both officer Zapata and Avila were not allowed to be part of the event.
Per the Texan:
The new law is called the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act. It explicitly covers certain crimes against federal agents, employees, and their family members, such as murder, attempted murder, assault, and threats, according to a summary provided by the United States Congress.
On February 11, 2011, officials in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), sent Special Agents Victor Avila and Jaime Zapata on an assignment to retrieve equipment from Mexico City. While they were on the road, the Los Zetas cartel attacked them in their armored vehicle, murdered Zapata, and seriously injured Avila.
The killers were convicted by a jury in 2017, but the convictions were both overturned on a technicality in 2020. The families of the two murdered agents were shocked that their loved ones were being denied justice.
“The Zapata family and I were devastated when we learned that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had vacated the murder conviction. I contacted my Senator, Congressman and FLEOA (Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association) almost two years ago to try to make this right,” Avila said, according to the Texan.
But S. 921, that Biden signed into law, aims to make sure things like this don’t happen again.
But the Biden admin. didn’t invite any of the family members to the signing of the new law that carries the names of their loved ones.
“The Zapata family and I are disappointed and hurt that the Biden administration did not invite us to be part of the signing ceremony of this very important law,” the Avila and Zapata families said.
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