ATF gunwalker scandal … did US Customs and Border Protection look the other way when the guns were headed south?
by Hugh Holub on Mar. 25, 2011, under atf, border issues, border patrol, drug smuggling, grassley, mexican drug cartels, politics, project gunrunnerThe ATF “gunwalker” scandal…where federal ATF agents allowed hundreds of guns to “walk” from US gun shops across the border into the hands of the Mexican drug cartel as part of some dubious investigation into gunrunning gets even more outrageous.
Two of the ATF “walked” guns ended up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near Rio Rico.
Now it is coming out that the US Customs and Border Protectionl actually stopped the “straw” buyer Jaime Avila with the guns he bought in Phoenix as he was headed south. Instead of seizing the weapons, they let Avila head south with the guns…two of which turned up later at Agent Terry’s murder scene.
Right after Terry’s murder the feds indicted Avila.
US Senator Charles Grassley is demanding more information about the “gunwalker” scandal:
For Immediate Release
March 24, 2011
>Grassley Presses for More Answers on Operation Fast and Furious, Allowing Guns to “Walk”WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley continues to press the administration for answers about the policy that allowed guns to “walk” over the Mexican border. Grassley began questioning the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in January. His requests for information about the involvement of various agencies, including ATF, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have been stonewalled by the administration.
Grassley is now asking Customs and Border Protection for information about reportedly stopping Blas Gutierrez and Miguel Carrillo near the Mexican border. The two were recently indicted as part of a gun trafficking operation involving the mayor of Columbus, New Mexico. Additionally, Grassley is asking about allegations that Customs and Border Protection stopped Jaime Avila, who was recently indicted as the straw purchaser of weapons found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder. In both instances, Border Patrol agents allegedly found the gun runners to be in possession of multiple weapons, but let the suspects proceed for unknown reasons.
“No longer can this administration stand idly by and answer every question by saying that the Justice Department Inspector General is investigating. There is too much at stake. U.S. agents may have been killed because of a tragically ill-advised policy,” Grassley said. “The President said a serious mistake may have been made here, and that, if so, he would hold someone accountable. It is clearer every day that serious mistakes were made. Now it’s time for accountability.”
Grassley’s letter to Customs and Border Protection (March 16, 2011) made a specific request for officials knowledgeable about the agency’s involvement in Operation Fast and Furious be made available at a briefing that was already scheduled to take place with Grassley staff. Customs and Border Protection did not make officials available and there have been no attempts by the agency to schedule a subsequent briefing when officials would be available to answer the questions in Grassley’s letter. Click here to read Grassley’s latest inquiry to Customs and Border Protection.
Grassley’s letters to the administration about the policy of letting guns walk can be found on his website, Grassley.senate.gov.
WHO KNEW WHAT AND WHEN?
Of course with any scandal the key question is who knew what and when. CBS News has been hunting down the dogs responsible for the gunwaking scandal:
From CBS News:
ATF gunwalking: Who knew, and how high up?
by CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson
Since our first report in which ATF agents told us they allowed thousands of weapons to cross into Mexico, one crucial question has been: Who knew — how high up? This week for the first time, President Obama addressed the controversy. It was in an interview Tuesday evening with the Spanish language network Univision.
“Well first of all I did not authorize it. Eric Holder the Attorney General did not authorize it. He’s been very clear that our policy is to catch gun runners and put ‘em into jail,” Mr. Obama said of the controversial ATF operation called “Fast and Furious.”
What CBS News has turned up is that ATF agents in Mexico had no idea ATF officials in the US were walking guns into Mexico. When they found out they screamed bloody murder about the danger of the scheme.
President Obama denies he knew anything about the scheme.
A top ATF agent who was stationed in Mexico is blowing the whistle on the US ATF officials.
A stunning part of the story…according to the CBS story… the US ATF agent Darren Gil stationed in Mexico worried that “walked” guns were going to end up causing the death of Border Patrol agents.
From the CBS News story:
Faced with the flow of guns and the serial number evidence tracing to Phoenix, but locked out of the computer case files, Gil says he repeatedly questioned his supervisor in Washington. He says some of the conversations became screaming and shouting matches. He says he was instructed not to tell his Mexican counterparts about the case. Gil said he inquired, “when is this case gonna shut down? The Mexicans are gonna have a fit when they find out about it.” Gil says he also noted “at some point, these guns are gonna end up killing either a government of Mexico official, a police officer or military folks, and then what are we gonna do?”
Gil is the second ATF agent to tell CBS News that he specifically warned of such an outcome. Agent John Dodson says he told his superiors in Phoenix much the same.
“I specifically asked one time, ‘are you prepared to go to the funeral of a Border Patrol agent…are you prepared for that fact because it’s only a matter of time before that happens,” Dodson told CBS News.
That’s exactly what happened. Two of the weapons, AK-47 variant assault rifles, were eventually found at the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December. Officials are looking into possible connections to the murder of Customs Agent Jaime Zapata in February.
Just so everyone understands…the gunwalking scandal has nothing to do with US gun laws. Many of the gun shops wanted to refuse to sell the weapons to the “straw” buyers for the cartels, but ATF made them sell the guns so they could “track” them into Mexico.
What this is all about is a deliberate effort on the part of ATF to subvert existing laws and allow guns to flow into Mexico instead of stopping them.
More on the scandal and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder:
Mexican officials claim ATF “walked” guns suspected in the death of 150 Mexicans
Bersin blames Border Patrol Agents for Bean Bags
US House Republicans Want Answers on ATF Gun Trafficking Program
It must be real if it is in the Washington Post…ATF Gunrunner scandal finally gets coverage in DC
Mexico questions ATF’s Gunrunner program
CBS News Reports: ATF agent ordered to let guns into Mexico
Inside ATF…an ugly picture …how many dead bodies are out there as a result of Project Gunrunner?
Grassley blasts Department of Justice on coverup of guns used in Agent Terry’s murder
Dept. of Justice denies gun claim about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death
Is there a cover-up on Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder?
Was Border Patrol agent Brian Terry killed by a gun bought in Phoenix?
March 25th, 2011 on 5:45 pm
“A top ATF agent who was stationed in Mexico is ratting out the US ATF officials.”
Hugh,
While that may be the common term used by many, IMO in this case we have a man that did what he could to try to stop this insanity., he was not part of this apparant conspiracy.
In short, he did the right thing….
Nor is he just coming out with this info, he was one of the major players that sought out whistleblower protection. He is just making some of it public…
Grassley has tons of official documents on this scandal already, he is just seeing who is going to lie under oath about them…
And it DOES have to do with gun laws, the ATF wants more of them, and more power, and more funding. They want to build up their little empire and they needed a “crisis” to act upon….so they made one.
March 26th, 2011 on 8:28 am
Good catch….changed to blowing the whistle…. absolutely he did the right thing as has Dodson.
I agree 100% with your interpretation of the ATF agenda…. this issue is not about more gun laws and shoudn’t be used to argue for more power to ATF.
As you are well aware I favor a tightening of the gun check system and would like to draw a line on who should be able to have assualt weapons and in what quantity….. the “well regulated militia” where there is some kind of additional training and accountability function.
But where law enforcement folks are placed at risk by a rogue investigation that is a line I also have to draw. This whole issue with ATF is not about gun rights….it is about some very bad judgement on the part of a group of ATF management and whomever approved this that put a lot of good guys in harm’s way.
I never met Mr. Terry but I feel like he is part of my family. I have 3 members of my family right now are wearing badges and trying to protect public safety. I once also carried a badge and a firearm. It is bad enough to face danger every day out on the job but to have that danger enhanced because ATF was running some sort of stupid scheme….that pisses me off no end.
March 30th, 2011 on 8:11 pm
Hugh,
Do you honestly believe that this whole scheme was to “take down a cartel” as the ATF is now floating?
March 31st, 2011 on 8:03 am
Absolutely not. Think about this…so you track the guns and find Juan sitting in Jaurez as the Jefe. You cannot extradite Juan. You’d have to snatch him out of Mexico. You are not going to bring any kind of case against Juan inside Mexico because you can’t enforce Mexican or US law in their courts using US assets. I would love to see how DOJ could legally jusify the whole scheme because some lawyer must know zero about international law.
Even giving them their “justification” that cannot justify allowing the guns to get into the hands of people killing our guys. I don’t think anyone with a brain can rationalize any benefit from the ATF scheme with the price tag it carried…
Obviously ATF is trying to throw cover over their stupid scheme and the real questions are will Grassley et al keep Obama’s guys feet to the fire…and when will Obama figure out he’s got a really serious problem with his appointees and start throwing them under the bus. I don’t know about his administration, but when I was tapped for a Presidentially appointed position one had to sign an undated letter of resignation so if you had to be thrown under the bus the best you could hope for was a phone call telling you to get your ass out of the building and be able to get to your hiding place before the press started hunting you down like the sacrificial dog you were supposed to be.
March 31st, 2011 on 7:11 pm
Yep, empire building scheme, pure and simple.
This thing took awhile to get legs, now it has wings…
March 30th, 2011 on 10:57 am
Maybe a solution would be to build a double fence 6 mts high with enough room for patrol cars like Spain built in Melilla to avoid unwanted migrants.
March 30th, 2011 on 7:46 pm
Some one in the ATF was paid off by the Cartel
March 30th, 2011 on 8:07 pm
Nope, that is chump change compared to increased budget and power if the origins of this manufactured crisis would have gone unnoticed.
March 31st, 2011 on 8:05 am
How does one clean up ATF management so the street level guys get to do the job theyare supposed to do….and by the way….does anyone have an alternative to ATF? I am beginning to wonder if the “mission” ought to be revaluated and more narrowly focused….just the opposite of the obvious power grab.
Looking at all the federal activity…we’ve got Customs at the ports, Border Patrol outside the port zones, ICE, FBI, DEA (heard a story about how DEA ordered the BP to “clear” a corrirdor so the DEA guys could make the bust of the smugglers but couldn’t find them), ATF….overlap…competition…. the only good news at the line is we have so many badges on the street you’d have to be really stupid to commit a crime… because someone would likely see you doing it…this is why crime rates in border cities is so low.
March 31st, 2011 on 7:17 pm
Hugh,
FBI could handle firearms crimes. If you really dig into it you will see some of the asinine REinterpitations of law that ATF comes up with to make legal inanimate objects into illegal inanimate objects.
Right after the Waco debacle the idea was floated to assimilate ATF into the FBI……FBI was NOT happy. They essentially said “mix clean water and dirty water and you get….dirty water…”
April 2nd, 2011 on 7:30 am
Understand….had some “joint operations” with the FBI….interesting outfit….very protective of their turf (and credit for cases). At the local level have all these “task forces” and “special units”….like the drug squads…inside agencies like police dept, sheriff’s office, county attorney’s office…equivalent to DEA….hard enough to keep everyone on the same reservation inside an agency and when each unit becomes a separate agency…watch out. We’d have a hard time coordinating the drug squad with the organized crime unit inside the CA’s office where everyone reported to the same boss….
I guess I really do not understand what the role and mission of ATF actually is…I read their web site stuff and think…this stuff needs to be somewhere else integrated with a bigger picture effort but no where does it fit with ICE, BP, FBI (closest), DEA… almost like needing to split up functions and maybe a new integrated LE agency that works organized crime from the financial side and ropes in guns and drugs but tied very closely to the more “normal” seize and arrest and incarerate the mules. Do we really need a national agency enforcing gun laws? I kind of like the focus on tracking down explosives and being the national bomb sqaud. ..but that should be a DHS function…except god forbid a bunch of agencies were consolidated into a single DHS unit…..
May 4th, 2011 on 1:44 pm
How about simply disbanding them?