Latest / Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement / #018- “Agent Under Fire” Part 2

Transcript

#018- “Agent Under Fire” Part 2 · Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: This episode of Blue Grip Podcast is brought to you by Police One Academy, a Lexapole solution.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: The last episode of part one of Agent Under Fire.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: He gives us an address in El Paso that same night.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: We stood up, hid it, and discovered 18 kids.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh started the process.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And before you know it, my family and I move from El Paso, Texas to Mexico City.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a big writer of lists.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I have this long list of things to do.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: And around noon, one of my uh coworkers tells me, Hey, heads up, they're gonna send you to Monterey.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Say, check it out.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I look up, and the second SUV has a long gun.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you could see it sticking from the middle of the seat.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's occupied by several occupants.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, just let them go.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: They're going like 90 plus.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I told Jaime to keep it between 70, 72 miles an hour.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, just let them go.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows who the hell that is, right?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And they're flying.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: But before you knew it, we come up on them.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: They had slowed down to about 20, 25 miles an hour, blocking the two lanes.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we're on the far right lane, and we come up on them, and immediately they start trying to force us to pull over.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I tell Hyman, no, no, no, don't go, go, go, go.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he tries to evade them and they reposition themselves.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the second time, the the SUV next to him, they lower the windows and pull out AK-47s, and these guys are yelling at the top of the lungs to pull over, pull over, stop, stop, pull over.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I tell Hyman, no, and they're literally almost crashing this window to uh you know, mirror to mirror, and then the front vehicle is slamming on the brakes, so they're doing a rolling roadblock on us, which we would train to do at the academy.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And they eventually do a force off to the right shoulder, and we come to a complete stop.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: And about eight of them come out, do a semicircle in front of us, uh, of the suburban with long guns, and they're all shouting and screaming, and you know, we immediately put our hands up.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of them, the the main guy of that, what they call a stacka or uh of their cell, right, is uh has a handgun.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: He comes over to Jaime's door and opens the door.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: I literally swung it open, and he could tell that he wasn't even surprised because they kind of yanked at it thinking it wasn't gonna open and it and it swung open, and Jaime grabbed in the industrial handle and slams it right back shut.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: Damn.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And when I what I saw from my passenger seat is the guy just standing with a handgun like this, it swung up and then swung right back down and shut down, and then we start hitting those lock buttons.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, during we those buttons, then the the window buttons and the lock buttons are next to each other.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: My window lowered about two inches without us knowing.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And this whole time we have our hands up.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm yelling at the guys, we're Americans, you're confusing us.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever you think we are, you're we're not who you think we are.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're U.S.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: diplomats, we're from the U.S.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Embassy.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is a diplomatic vehicle.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Look at the plates, let me identify myself, my black passport.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: My passport was in my backpack with the guns, had caught been caught underneath the seats when we lowered both seats.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh shit.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I never had access to my weapons.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so gladly, because if I would have shown a weapon, I wouldn't be here for sure to tell the truth.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: All people that will you you showed a I never showed anything.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to show my passport, that's what I wanted to show them and then identify myself.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're telling them all this in Spanish, it's all in Spanish.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is it registering with them or do they just not care who you are?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's not registering.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: It did register because they later on they testified about it, but they have evil in their eyes.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'd never seen a a focus of evil.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they wanted us dead.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it it took a while because um the the guy by the door when we weren't complying, and now they're yanking on the doors and they're locked.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And he s sets off a few rounds by the front tire area by Hyman's height.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I even told him, did he fucking shoot at the you know it it it it took a second to me to realize that shots were fired.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh shit, this shit's real.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Shit's real.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: He he shot.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and he says, Yeah, he shot.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh shit.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I mean, he never said he never he never said a word to them.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was just yelling and screaming over and over.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're Americans, we're Americans, uh, US diplomats, US embassy, employees, blah, blah, blah, blah, over and over.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Get out, open the door with, you know, F in this.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Get the open the door, open the door, get out, get out, get out.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, no, don't get out, don't get out, don't get out.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, let me, and then he came to the front because he realized I was the one communicating with.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So he came around the suburban to the front.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And during that time, two of the shooters came to my window, and before he knew it, boom, they put an AK-47 through that gap and a handgun.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And oh shit.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I just backed up kind of to the post.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now remember, there's the whole back is full of boxes, so we couldn't jump to the back.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I immediately posted myself like this and raised the window, and it raised it and caught the barrels of both guns, and I see them wiggling, uh, especially the guy with the AK's wiggling it, and the guy with the handgun is wiggling it because it's caught in between the window, and these are very thick armored windows, right?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're wiggling it, and without notice, they open fire into the cabin.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like this, and the first thing to go is my hearing, and I have hearing loss in my left ear because of it, because they're literally shooting it right here.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I see Agent Zapata get struck multiple times on his side with the handgun, and then he gets shot with the AK in his leg.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I get shot once in the chest and twice, uh, one in my upper leg and one in my lower leg.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: I had no idea that I'd been shot.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he yells out, I'm hit, I'm hit, I'm shot.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Go, go, go, go, go, go.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: They pull out the barrels.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: I raised the window, just the last little gap, and they were just spraying it, just shooting the whole right side.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually put the the suburban back gear, the gear, I just slam it down.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: I push Jaime's knee into the gas pedal to crash that vehicle to get out of the X.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: But Jaime becomes uh unresponsive and the suburban rolls into the median.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So from the far right shoulder, crosses the highway, and then I try to get it back on to highway 57, but it you know, the tires are flat, they're shooting this whole time at it.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh, you know, we kind of stop there, and I'm attending to Hyman.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: One SUV, I see it take off.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now I have very limited vision now because of the the armor glass, you it's very hard to see from the inside.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Outside, you see like these white snow globes, and the inside it just shatters and it's you can't see.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I one on the front windshield, I see one taking off.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then I see the second one take off, and it does a U-turn, comes right back, parks right in front of the suburban.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Two of the shooters come out and they look at me, and I look at them, and there's like a pause, and they just go, they just open up on the and you'll see the pictures of the of the two uh shots where they're trying to penetrate the glass.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I just sat there and I'm thinking, okay, this is it, I'm done.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Please work glass, please work glass.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh I see them jump in the SUV and they leave, and uh I make the for the first phone call.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I try to get my next tall radio, it doesn't work.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: I pick up my Blackberry, I call the embassy, and people could hear the call online.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_05: What is it?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_05: Try to remain alive, please.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Blue fifty-two, stupid ass.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, didn't get me there.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and um and um and then after that I I called the only person I trusted in Mexico at that point was the head of our Veda unit in Mexico that we had from the federal police.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: He's a guy that I was would kid around.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: He would always tell me, Hey, if you're ever getting a pickle anywhere in the city or something, you call me, right?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um I called him and uh I called his office number that I would never call.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: That that landline, which is a recorded call.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been able to get that recorded call, but it's uh there someone has it because uh he has a little red light on it, like the movies, and he says that it kept on because I obviously talked to him afterwards, and he says it kept on ringing and ringing, and I said, Well, who calls that number?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, he answered it was me, and he didn't recognize my voice because I was just going off in Spanish and I saw him to just to send help, and he's the one that actually deployed a helicopter for Mexico City, a federal police helicopter with trusted personnel that we can um, you know, be able to allow them to come in because during that whole time we were on that road for 40 minutes before anyone responded.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And during those 40 minutes, I was on the phone with a lot of people, the regional security office from the the diplomatic special agents, diplomatic security special agents from the embassy, ICE agents.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: My my buddy who said the first one told me check your, you gotta check yourself.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a lot of blood and a lot of shrapnel, and and my face was cut with glass, and I had a lot, I had those little scars in my eyes, uh, where um yeah, I had a lot of blood on me.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of it was Jaime, and then that's when I saw the wound here in my chest, and I said, Oh shit, I am hit.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I put pressure, and he's the one take off your belt.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one take off your belt and put it around because I saw the the hit on my leg.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I did that.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I was trying to keep Jaime awake at one point.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: They could hear me screaming at him and shaking him to keep him awake because he was losing a lot of blood.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh and then they even dispatched me and put me in contact with the helicopter pilot.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I at one point gave them the Garmin GPS coordinates.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't know where I was at.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: We were in the middle of this highway in between towns, and they were able to find I gave them the coordinates and then they said we're on our way.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: But during that time, there was an ambulance that showed up on the side.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: It looked like an ambulance, you would recognize an ambulance, and I didn't know if it was for us, but it was by itself.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: One guy gets off and comes over.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: By that, by that point, I had already pulled my guns out, and um he comes to the window and he's trying to open the door.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here to help you.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, help me, open the door, help me, open the door, and uh I'm not gonna I'm not gonna help him because the door was jammed with the crash, and um he kind of was trying to peeking in and he didn't do anything and he left.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, in 2017, during the trial, I find out they testified he was a Zeta cartel member.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one that goes and makes sure that there's no one alive, or if it's any Zeta's involved that get shot, he goes and rescues them to give them first aid.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's how sophisticated these guys are.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: So he was coming there to finish you?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and then so he left, and then the state police officer, the local state there shows up, and uh, and you could tell the state police are a little poor, they don't have a full matching uniform, and he comes around.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: He has a clear vision of him coming around the suburban, and I have him like this with my gun flanking him.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, I didn't trust anybody, man, anyone at that point.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Open the door.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I could shoot you in the face, open the door, and he wouldn't open the door.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm here to help you.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, eventually the the helicopter lands right there on highway 57.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: The the person that that that my friend sent over, I asked him for his creds because I I I didn't trust anybody.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he says, No, it's me.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hearing direct orders from that.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: I made him take out his wallet and he put it through in between the window, the crack, and he shows me the badge, and I said, I don't give a fuck about the badge.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: I want I want to see your creds.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he pulls out his creds in his crunched up wallet, and he's like, Oh yeah, they look at his name, I said, That's the guy.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because I thought uh they're gonna send me with somebody else and torture me somewhere else, you know, and finish me.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's the corruption and exactly.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but that's when the fear set in for me to go to the hospital.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: The fear to go to the hospital because of that.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: I knew these guys knew that I was alive and they were gonna finish me, and uh, there was no security at the hospital.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: There was only the ones that were with us that dispatched, plus the local ones there which did not trust anybody, and it was a god-awful feeling of of of knowing that you're gonna die and uh going, you feel like a foreigner.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I tell people this story all the time.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I felt so lonely there being uh talking about being a foreigner in a country of my heritage.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I for all intents and purposes, I could have been in China.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I felt.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and when we get to the hospital, they took Hyman to one trauma room, took me to another, and uh I didn't give them my name, I didn't tell them who we were, I refused Ivy, I refused medication.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: They were doing all these uh studies on me.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh they did a lot of sonograms and had all shrapnel.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um and they were they did good care, good trauma care, but um, they assumed that we were Mexican federal police officers, and I was okay with it uh until they saw the response of the Mexican Federal Police and then the response of the the ones that they sent from Mexico City, um, the trusted ones, and they came in all fully suited up and they said, uh Victor Avala, you're here, we're secure, the building's secure, and no one's gonna come in and you're gonna be okay.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the first time I breathed a little sigh of relief.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the Americans didn't show up till the shooting happened at 2.15 p.m.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the first Americans showed up about 7.30 p.m.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: They drove, like I said, drove that they had a drive.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Pardon?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: They drove.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, they drove.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was a mess.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: They couldn't get a helicopter out of Mexico City, and uh it was a mess.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so some of them drove, some eventually got flown in by a DEA plane.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um to and eventually everybody showed up DEA, FBI, Secret Service, Marshals, everybody showed up.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I mean it was great to see them, see them, and um then uh uh then it was a matter of getting me out because and getting Jaiman and us out because now we're under the rules of the Mexican government and now we're technically under arrest.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And because I have diplomatic, some a level of diplomatic immunity, not like an ambassador, but I do have some protections.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Jaime doesn't because he was there on the on a regular uh um red passport or just official passport.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's not a black passport holder, um, they're holding us.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like you need to answer questions.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Mexico is very different.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're not the victim now, you're uh like a car accident.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: A car accident in Mexico is a criminal offense, it's not a civil offense like it is in the U.S.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so all of a sudden uh the ambassador gets involved and says, You gotta get him out.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: So they get me out with a DEA plane like at three in the morning to Houston.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: They try to get Jaime out before they did the autopsy, but we lost that battle, and Mexico did their own autopsy on uh A.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Zapata, we had a a US agent in there that they didn't know that he was in there to observe the the uh the autopsy.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I told the doctor when he told me um, you know, your your partner passed away.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I said, just please treat him treat him with dignity and respect.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um and did you know at the scene that he was pretty bad and may not make it or yeah, he was uh he was pretty pretty uh unresponsive.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And uh at the time I remember when we got into the to the helicopter, one of the police officers said um one of the Mexican police.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well first me and then they're bringing Jaiman.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, uh, they literally said, Is your partner dead?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I I just yelled at it when I'm I don't know.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: You get him in here.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Spanish.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Whether he's alive or dead.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: You you bring I'm not leaving him, I'm not leaving in this helicopter without him.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And they kind of go, all right.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: So they went and brought him.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: They thought they saw had a pulse at that time.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't wasn't sure.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: They were trying to, you know, starting to do a little CPR and stuff on him while we put him on the on the helicopter.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was only like an eight-minute flight.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was pretty quick to the to the heliport there at the helicopter, but it was a it was a nightmare, man.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_04: When did your family learn, or how did they learn that you had been involved in this crazy, horrific?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: So my wife was um my wife was working at the regional security office doing these background investigations when the call, when I placed the call to the embassy, the embassy routed the call to the regional security office to the uh receptionist.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: The receptionist was new or was a floater, she was a temporary assignment, and she was taken aback.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't know what to do, she dropped the phone and ran down the hallway and said, There's an agent Avila that's been shot.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: And my wife came out of the I mean, it's this very small office.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: She comes out of the phone.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: What'd you just say?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: That an agent Avila is on the phone that he's been shot, and she's like, That's my husband.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then Victor Avila, and so she goes, she faints, and they get my wife, and she starts throwing up and it's a hell of a notification.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was no buffer for her.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we try to do that buffer with our kids, and they told them there was a gas leak at our our our apartment to get our kids out.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't want to alert them.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: They got got them from school, and then we started hearing a lot of chatter that they knew where we lived in Mexico City because uh and we had it up the and the GPS garment had my home address on there.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um so they said get the family out.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: So they got my family out into a hotel in Mexico City surrounded by Mexican and US personnel protected.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: They were there for about a day, a day and a half overnight.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh while I was taking it to Houston, we uh eventually uh reunited in El Paso.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: What was your recovery like?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Shot three times?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh it was all done in in Washington.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't want me nowhere near the uh Mexic US Mexico border for officer safety reasons, and and then that's where the the second nightmare begins.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the nightmare that lasted years.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I call it the aftermath, and it's it's worse than the shooting because um they said you want to go to DC.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, let's get the hell out of here.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be on the border.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is February.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was very concerned, my wife and I are very concerned for our kids.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not their fault, and I don't want them to lose the school year, so I wanted them in school.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we get to Virginia, Northern Virginia, right outside of the beltway there in False Church, and we can't register our kids in school.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: You talk about semantics and logistics because you need an address.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And they they put me at a residence inn for two weeks, and they gave me a phone and said, Hey, yo, Victor, whatever you need, man, okay.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I need a toothbrush.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: I need clothes.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is in my apartment.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: I never went back.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So think about where you are today, and you're never gonna go back to that house.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: What do you need right now tonight?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my kids needed clothing and jackets, and it was snowing and super cold.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: It was 72 degrees in Mexico, but it was snowing in DC.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so they needed school supplies.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: We needed a pantry.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we needed a place to live.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um I was in a wheelchair and and crutches looking for a place to live because my agency did not facilitate that.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: We had to find it on our own.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we finally found it just in time, got our kids registered into school.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: They wouldn't accept them because uh even though they're U.S.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: citizens, they needed additional vaccinations because they were coming from another country.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so they did uh the required vaccinations and then um they get put into school.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was horrible, horrible uh for my kids.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I actually the the physical rehab and that that wasn't bad.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: That was really good care.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I had really good care, really good doctors.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: That that that came good, that was a natural thing.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um the counseling, the PTSD, and all that was good.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: All that was was very good treatment, and I just wanted to get back to work.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: I I you get into this mentality and I knew that agents want to go back.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that it was weird.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted that, I wasn't ready to do that, uh, but I forced them to do that.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to do that.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_04: Do you think their failure to attend and think through your care by the agency was due to y'all didn't have this happen very often?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_04: Or they didn't want to acknowledge that there was a pretty epic screw up and they just wanted to kind of tuck you away and get you to be quiet.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: All the above.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think um the main thing is Fast and Furious.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Two of the weapons recovered used against us were attached to Operation Fast and Furious as well as it was.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Catastrophic failed.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just two months before Agent Brian Terry brought Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Expand on the Fast and Furious for people who don't know what that is.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Fast and Furious was uh probably the biggest botched operation in federal government history.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: The ATF, led by ATF, but FBI, DA, even ICE was involved in these task forces, were um overseen by the federal government when.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Weapons were allowed to be purchased in the U.S.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: It started in Phoenix area.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Phoenix, Arizona, were purchased by straw purchasers under the watch of the federal government.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_04: And these weapons Eric Holder, I think, was I think Eric Holder was attorney general.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Eric Holder, attorney general, but you were allowed to walk.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, allowed to go into Mexico without any further of any investigation.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: They armed the cartels.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: They armed the Zetas.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: They armed the guys that shot us.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: They killed Agent Brian Terry two months before, which blew up Operation Fast and Furious.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: They wanted this to be a model across the nation because we knew how Obama and Holder are non-Second Amendment defenders.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they wanted to put the U.S.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: in a bad light when it came to uh weapons.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was largely part of it.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Also the screw up of being on this highway and this assignment the way it was.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: They knew that they had done wrong.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: They never should have put us on that highway.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And we tried to sue the government and get some answers, but uh Obama exerted executive privilege on all the documents, and so we've never been able to get any documents because they're protected now.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they've been protected.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so when Trump became president, we thought, well, Trump's gonna get them.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, once that president, and you probably heard about this in the news a few years ago when there was an issue with it with Trump and another case, but when a president exerts executive executive privilege on these documents, they're basically sealed for and no one could ever get access to them.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: So all the FOIA requests, all the all the information that we want, the emails, I've gotten a lot of redacted sheets of paper and uh uh cutouts from the internet and printouts from uh prints of news articles, but that's not what we want.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: We want the internal docs.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: So the epic failures and errors are locked away forever.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so far, 12 years into it, um it's still there.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I'll share with you the latest.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um the by the way, we we caught these guys, right?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the US government and ICE and uh and the Mexican Federal Police do a great job of going after the Zetto the shooters.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: One was presumed dead.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: They arrest seven of them.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um they do it old school, and they pick these guys up, they extradite them quickly to the U.S.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And five of them plead guilty to murder, attempted murder, attempted murder of an internationally protected person and weapons charges.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Two of them don't say a word.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: The two that came up in front of the suburban, those guys go to trial and they challenge it.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So in 2017, I go to testify at the trial in DC, and I that's the first time I actually get to tell the story officially under oath, um, and also hear everything that they're saying that in fact they did hear me.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, they did know that we were Americans, and they heard me perfectly clear that we were Americans.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, they thought at one point that I was the ambassador.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they said.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_04: When they interdicted y'all, they knew that early on when they interdicted that vehicle.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: They said that they were looking for um uh carjacking, uh looking to carjack the vehicle, and that's a crock of shit.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: They never would have they destroyed that car.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and if the vehicles are a dime a dozen, those types of vehicles are a dime a dozen.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: But they recognized this vehicle was different.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: They knew it was uh, I mean, the I think the value of the car was$180,000.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a suburban.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they recognized it, and if they wanted it, um, they destroyed it, and they they knew they they actually I never had a scumbag corroborate my testimony to say, in fact, yes, we did hear him.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, he is telling the truth that that's the first time years after the shooting that I somebody finally said, because I I would say I and I yelled it over and over, and they said, Oh no, we heard him.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and you said they just had the gone thousand-yard stare, yep.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: Look of evil.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't give a damn you were an American diplomat, clearly.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: They definitely had the ability to stand down because other U.S.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: agents in Mexico have been held at gunpoint many times.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: DEA FPI agents, and the cartels find out that they're U.S.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: federal agents and they're like, oh shit, okay.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they they let them go.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, these guys, this is what this is the shift that's happened in Mexico.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're the rules no longer exist.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: This uh this whole thing that the the cartel doesn't want the U.S.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: government and we're not gonna, you know, mess with the federal police uh or U.S.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: personnel, that all went out the window.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, does that this work for a specific cartel or are they kind of just contract with different cartels or they're not really at that point?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: They were they were probably the strongest at that point.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: They were their own.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: They had faction off from they were the security for the Gulf cartel.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how they started.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then they formed their own cartel.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: But the reason they made their name is because of the level of violence.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: These guys are the ones that started chopping off heads and torturing bodies and on video and started passing that propaganda around.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And they're though they set the pace for the other cartels, and then other cartels started doing the same thing.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the hanging of the bodies and all that.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: This does that's the Zetas.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you think, well, these guys must be on PCP, they must be on these drugs.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're not, they're not.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: They cut off a head of a person that's alive, like if nothing.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just pure evil.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like terrorists.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Terrorists, that's what they are, and so we're at a point where they should be designated as such because uh that's the level that they function at terrorist at a terrorist level.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_04: So they were arrested, um, prosecuted.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_04: How's the Avla family today?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're doing good.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: We um you talk about resiliency.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: I use that word a lot.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: We were able to um, with the help of God and and a lot of other things, that we had a lot of dark days, a lot of dark days after after the shooting.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I give a lot of credit to my wife, Claudia, and my kids for putting up with me.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't a good person to be around with.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I I consciously did not want to be this angry, bitter man.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm not I'm not gonna be that guy.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy to be after.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy, it's easy.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I you know I didn't want to pick up a I don't want to be an alcoholic or a drug.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm very fortunate that that I ate a lot, I gained a lot of weight.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: That was my vice, believe it or not.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Food was one of the things that I struggled with because um that I didn't know how to cope.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: And uh a lot of counseling and and all that, and I had really, really hard, hard time a couple of few years afterwards.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I still do counseling, by the way.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: I still do, I'm I'm I'm not ashamed to say it.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: I still seem a counselor, uh, talk about it and and and and and and get through that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: But uh we will be going back to court in May.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Two of the shooters, the guys that went to trial, they appealed their sentence to about two and a half years ago, saying that through their attorney that the murder conviction, the murder statute used to convict them of murder of Agent Zapata was invalid because a murder happened in Mexico.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: What was their sentence?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Life.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Both got life, both got both got life, yeah, federal life.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: The other five that pled guilty got 35 down to 12 years, which was a plea deal that I had never seen in my life for murdering a U.S.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: agent.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the only person that could answer to that is a U.S.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: attorney as to why they recommended that, but they did, and I I had a hard time.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: The Zapata family and I had a hard time with those sentences.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: But the guys that got life, then they appeal this.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: The DC Circuit Court of Appeal agrees with them and dismisses the murder charge.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: They dismissed the murder charge.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: So there's no one in prison for the murder of Agent Zapata.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: And about two years ago, I we get the news and I'm like I gotta do something.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I call the senators, I call the congressmen, I call everybody that I know, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Association, who has a good presence on the fit uh on the hill in DC, and I said we gotta do something about it.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we picked up the law and we changed it.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: We changed the law.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: We said we this cannot happen.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta change this law and this loophole that it doesn't matter where the murder happens.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we did, and they renamed the the law the Jaimas Zapata and the Victor Avila Federal Officer and Employee Protection Act.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And we passed that.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and and what's what's so funny is that Joe Biden signed it.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: He can't make this up, folks.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he may not have somebody helped him.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, somebody, somebody.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: But but the sad part about it is they had this big ceremony last year on the signing ceremony, but didn't invite me.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't invite the Zapata family.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Bill and my name, our name is on it, and the Zapata family was not, you know, they should you know how they stand behind the president the desk?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm not shocked that that didn't happen.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they were never gonna invite me.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: And but you know, at least the Zapata family, it's their son that gave his life.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but they signed it, it's a law, and so it's not retroactive to our case, but so that's why they have to bring these two guys and resentence them.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: And because of COVID and all these years have passed by, they finally got the date.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be May 23rd of this year, 22nd and 23rd, I'll be in DC.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Addressing the court as a victim of the crime.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: I always have a hard time remembering that I am a victim of this crime and addressing the judge and saying basically begging the judge to resentence them to life because the big difference now is that it's not a mandatory life sentence, it's up to life.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: So they vacated the sentence but didn't dismiss the charge, is that right?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: They vacated the right, just the charge, just that one charge.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they're still in there for my attempted murder and the other weapons charges, but those are not don't carry a mandatory life.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: They carry a of up to life.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what that means.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: It could be 15 years, 20 years.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna go in there and ask them and plead with them to resentence them to life.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll keep you guys posted.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, keep us posted, please.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and you you reached out to your senators and to your congressmen and congresswomen to affect change.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_04: Kind of tells us where Victor Avalet is today.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_04: Tell tell our tell our listeners.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I uh I go around the country speaking about the the horrors that's happening at our border under this administration, and I'm a big advocate of of uh doing something, whether at the local level, big, big, big uh on local politics.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I said I gotta I gotta do something.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I I threw in my hat and I just announced for uh my run for U.S.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Congress for Congressional District 23, which is the border from San Antonio to El Paso.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is my backyard.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is the the area where I think it's ground zero for not just Texas, but the rest of the country.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um VictoravilaforCongress.com is the uh is the website for support.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: I need the financial support to get me there.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're trying to primary the incumbent.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: The incumbent there has betrayed the people of CB CD23 Texans that voted him in, and he has voted against the what he said he was gonna do, he his own word.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's violated his own word, he's violated his own oath uh when it comes to not just border security bills, but other conservative um uh uh bills that he's voted against or for that the people did not that's not what they requested, and that's not what they voted for.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so because of that, 17 counties got together, the Republican Party of Texas, and censured him.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: They censured a U.S.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Congressman, which is very serious.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: That means that that they're not gonna fund you, they don't want to work with you.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um he dismissed it, and um, but um I I want to bring integrity back to this system.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: I want to bring I was in DC, I was telling you guys earlier I was in DC, and you feel the swamp when you when you get in there, but we need people to fight this, we need people to fight the establishment to to to go back to where you are the extension of the community, and you are the voice of the community.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds fundamental and it sounds basics, but I want to take things back to basic where you represent the people in district.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: You do represent the people.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: And people uh quickly uh lose sight of the fact that they're the ones that voted you to represent that.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't it it it's fascinating to me that people just they forget that so quickly.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_04: Because they've they start voting on party, yeah, they start voting for special interests, they start voting for everything else other than the reason you're there is because the people and I wish our citizens, our listeners, would quit thinking of border security as politics.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_04: Border security is national security, it is vital to our national security.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_04: I bet Ukraine wish they had some border security right now.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of countries that probably wish they had border security.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's not politics.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it is taking care of our country and our future and our kids' future.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_04: I'm scared for my kids because we don't want to fix a problem that everybody acknowledges is a problem, but they want to say it's just politics.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_04: We don't need to fix it.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it's not a left or right issue.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: You it really shouldn't be uh it's a bipartisan issue, it's about safety, it's about public safety.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think we all agree that we don't want anyone to come into this country and cause our our country harm.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're we are if you look at the statistics by numbers alone, we're experiencing three 9-11s a month in this country with fentanyl deaths.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: But nobody blinks an eye.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so so nobody took down buildings, but they're taking us down with pills.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and everybody's outraged that the balloon flew over our country and gathered intel, which is a problem.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_04: I'm pissed about it.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_04: But humans are coming in with evil in their heart to destroy our country.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_04: It's as bad as a damn balloon flying over our country gathering intelligence.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_04: They need to become as outraged about that as well.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh the cartels and Mexico, all that, I I'm that I bring that experience.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I know how to deal with them.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to deal with them, I want to deal with them at a different level to where you put America and the United States first.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we it's it's it's time that we look out for our citizens.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: They have been neglected, I think, especially the last two years.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: But for some reason, the violent criminal, the illegal person that is not here uh uh rightly so is put first and given the rights first for some reason.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all for legalities.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: I want people to come here, like I said, legally and all that, but I'm a law and order guy.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: I want the law and our constitution to be respected, and it's been disrespected by so many countries, 150 or so.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I you can't let me tell you, I I've been at the border and people from weird countries that I had never known about, in Africa, uh and Europe, and these small countries, like, where are you from?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're coming in, and there's a lot of barriers, a lot of challenges in the healthcare system, in the school system, the criminal justice system.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, I appreciate everybody for their support on that.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and I know we have some combat veterans in the House and the Senate that um have served their country.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: I would guess there's maybe a handful of law enforcement.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_04: Not many of you would think about a lot of veterans, but not a lot of law enforcement.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um probably not many that have been shot trying to protect their country.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us about this.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Agent under fire, uh, a murder in a manifesto.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: I go into detail.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'll give you a little bit of stories of of who I am.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: I tell you who I am, I give a good story of you know, drug bust, you know, because they're fun and they're is is what I worked on the border.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I put a human trafficking case, one of the most horrific ones I worked on there on purpose, because I still get people telling me, what?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh human trafficking and child trafficking?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: You're nuts.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't that doesn't exist.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people don't want it to exist.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I understand that, but it I put it in there because I've worked these cases, and you need to know that there are human beings in this world that are capable of doing horrific things to other human beings, especially children.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I talk about that, and and of course I go into detail, much more detail than I shared with today uh about the shooting.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then the last part, which I refer to as a manifesto, is I went through a bit of an identity crisis and I said, no, wait a minute.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was a pretty good agent.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know border security.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna talk about that.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna talk about I talk about the wall, asylum, um uh all these issues uh on border security, uh human trafficking, human smuggling, the cartels.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: From being a man on the ground to designating them as FTOs.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: I talk about that.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you'll get a good understanding.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if you read it today, you think I wrote it today.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's how relevant it is.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, it's still much needed.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: And plus, I put solutions in there, uh, real solutions of what I would do if I was in charge.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and they're very practical, very doable solutions that um can be done.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that we haven't had the will on either party to do it.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: Where can listeners find this?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Agentunderfirebook.com, and you could order it right there, uh, or you just go directly to Amazon.com or Barnesandloble.com.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_03: Me and Clint are willing to do an audible uh version of that one day, whenever we're ready.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_04: Are you gonna beat him or no, no, uh yeah, you can beat it?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_04: Crayons?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe maybe we'll get into a uh Netflix special one day or uh uh or uh or a movie.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to it to be that was honestly I I think it merits the all bullshit.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like it it's a it's a serious, like like I told you on the phone it could be a narcos version.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I've already got it in my what Netflix.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_04: We get a Netflix special going.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_04: It could be tacos.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_04: We get uh Peyton Manning to come on and play your supervisor.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_04: And you started out as an explorer, and we had an explorer reach out to us on our blue grit podcast this week saying he's watching the show.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_04: He's 15.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_04: Shout out, Nathan.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_04: Awesome, about to be 16.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_04: Shout out to Nathan, and uh he's a police explorer locally, and said he is chomping at the bit to serve his country and his community so he can play you as the explorer.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_04: As the explorer, we've got this set.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_04: We got it set.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_04: We can call it Tarcos for the Texas Narcos.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: We got it.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: I like that.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_04: All right, Netflix.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_04: We just need to.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's all done pretty much.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_04: We just need to get let us know Netflix and we're gonna get this thing rolled out.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_04: We can solve the world's problems.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I like it.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_04: And we'll just keep the title as the movie agent under fire.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: I like the title.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, uh, you know, I when I did the the the cover of the book, I really wanted the flag.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, you see the three bullet holes are obviously the three times that I got shot, but then I had a question is that can I put the bullet holes in the flag?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I didn't want to disrespect the flag.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I called, I have really good friends of veterans, uh, military veterans, and they're like, they all said, uh-uh, absolutely, as a matter of fact, and they they taught me something.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Most flags that uh are battle are destroyed and torn and shot up, and they still fly with honor.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: And absolutely that's that's and so it made me feel good that uh that that I was able to do that.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and I think it's a great visual, it's a great visual of you identifying yourself as an American diplomat, and they knew you were an American with that flag, and they shot you anyway, as a big screw you to America, they don't care.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think that's a great visual depiction Mexico and the cartels are not our friend, they're not our friend, and and people should recognize that they're our neighbor, very different.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's okay, but just like a lot of people out there, you don't get along with your neighbor, it doesn't mean that uh you move, you just live, you learn to live, right?
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: With them.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we have to learn to live, but sometimes you have to hold your neighbor accountable.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta make them cut down that we share, we share a lot of common ground, a lot of cultural same, you know, same same traits.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but we are definitely different, and and you're right, they are not our friend.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but but yeah, I'll to to make your point on that.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: You've been shot three times, you served your country, uh, you've had your back turned on you by your agency.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you've been through hell and back.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_03: And for you to stand before us today and and want to make the difference, um, you know, you do represent a lot of what the flag represents in that book.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I appreciate that.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um man, I it's it's been man, this has been a good, a good ride.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_03: The introduction between us three, uh, I'm looking forward to what what uh you know what the future holds for you.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_03: So I hope so.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: I hope it's uh it's a good one where I can have an impact.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe maybe politics is a way.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh, I don't know where else to be able to.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've been asking my wife questions of why why do you do this?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it's it's the public service.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's the I have the this need to want to give.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the spot.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: I said, You got to put me in a place where I can make a difference now in there.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Give me put me in coach, right?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Put me in training and coach in the arena.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_04: Information that folks need to hear.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_04: This is a story that is freaking crazy.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_04: People think things don't go on like this outside of our country.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_04: And uh it's folks like this that continue to serve, uh, get shot and still looking for a way to serve serve our country.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, yep.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta rapid fire.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: All right, man.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna ask you three questions.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: Best your favorite movie or line from a movie, your favorite movie?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: Cop movie.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: Cop movie.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have some good cop movies.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I like Man on Fire.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's a well, I don't know if that's a cop movie, but that's a that's more of a message movie.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh it should be, yeah.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um Training Day.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love training.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Training Day is a good one, too.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: Good one.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um Denzel.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Denzel's always good.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um what was the other one?
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_03: The second one is gonna be your favorite police vehicle.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: Not my not my two, what would I have?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: My 2001 Chevy Venture Van.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's not that was that's not it.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: The suburban that saved your life.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the suburban, I think.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: 2009 suburban.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's an easy pick.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: Or the 97 Crown Vic that I had, my first issued vehicle, 97 Crown Vic.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: What was it?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: Say that again for the people in the back.
• 44:16
  unknown: Oh no, here we go.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: Crown Victoria.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Crown Victoria.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: 97 Crown Vic.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: We can we can interceptor.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's very hard to do surveillance, even if it's unmarked.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I like that answer.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: Good job, Victor.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_03: We can end with that one.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's good.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then your favorite adult beverage.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: The Crown Vic.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh adult beverage, uh, scotch and water.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Unless it's uh McKellen uh just on a one block of ice.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's well, that's awesome.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just don't big rock.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, brother.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_03: Again, I can't thank you enough, man.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's been an honor.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's been an honor.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, this uh this is this is a pretty pretty intense story, pretty uh, pretty badass episode.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: I I can't thank you enough.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_03: You guys hit that subscribe button, download these episodes, catch this book, check out his website, Victor Avila for Congress.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: You guys stay safe.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: God bless you, and as always, may God bless Texas.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: We're out.