Agent Under Fire

A Murder and a Manifesto

By Victor Avila – Retired Federal Agent

“Long after police identified the Mexican cartel hit men who attacked Special Agent Victor Avila and his partner, Jaime Zapata, in 2011 – the mystery lingered as to why their supervisors sent them, unprotected, on what was virtually a suicide mission. In Agent Under Fire, Avila deconstructs the nightmare that took his partner’s life and robbed him of his health and career, and digs into the larger questions about the complicated U.S. Mexico relationship, drugs, and illegal immigration. “

– Sharyl Attkinson, Full Measure Managing Editor | Investigative Reporter and Author

About the Author

Victor Avila is a retired Supervisory Special Agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

While on assignment in Mexico, Special Agent Avila suffered multiple gunshot wounds and survived a violent ambush by the Los Zetas drug cartel. Special Agent Jaime Zapata was killed.

Mr. Avila has been recognized for Excellence in Law Enforcement by the ICE Hispanic Agents Association; and has received The Director’s Award for Operation in Plain Sight in Mexico; Homeland Security Investigations Excellence in Public Service Award; The Valor Award by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA); and many other awards and honors.

He is an advocate for border security, immigration reform, human trafficking awareness and the protection of our sovereignty – and has been featured on Fox News, i24News, Univision, OANN and various Radio and Podcast interviews.

Slide 1

Mr. Agent Man

For the next year and a half, Claudia and I were very happy in El Paso. We both loved the City and felt quite comfortable there. The only problem was that an increasing amount of drugs were pouring over the border into El Paso, and quite a bit of them stayed there. As a result, the crime rate in our city rose constantly. I also felt frustrated and sad when I heard about growing violence in Juarez...

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Slide 2

Agent Under Fire: Murder on Highway 57

Claudia held all three of my cell phones over the open toilet. Two of them were ringing. "You're done," she said. It was nearly 7Pm on Sunday evening and my phones had been ringing non-stop. My wife had threatened to flush my phones down the ...

Claudia held all three of my cell phones over the open toilet. Two of them were ringing. "You're done," she said. It was nearly 7PM on Sunday evening and my phones had been ringing non-stop. My wife had threatened to flush my phones down the ...

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Slide 3

The Hero Nobody Wanted

As I recovered from my physical and emotional wounds caused by the armed attack, I was honored at a number of dinners as a true American hero. But while many good things were said about me, the truth was that nobody seemed to want me around.

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