Head of ICE, others pay tribute at Mass

Top officials from all levels — federal, state, county and city — attended a noon Mass on Wednesday to honor Jaime Zapata, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent from Brownsville who was slain in Mexico last year.

One year to the day of Zapata’s death, church bells solemnly rang out. Military personnel and more than 30 uniformed officers from the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol sat with others, filling the pews of St. Luke Catholic Church in Brownsville.

ICE Director John Morton was there, and several officers wore badges with a black mourning ribbon.

“It’s extremely important to continue to support our brother officer,” Interim Brownsville Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez said after the Mass. “To pay tribute because he gave his life for the common good that we all strive for.”

Zapata’s death garnered national attention as a tragic moment showing the cost of U.S. efforts in Mexico while a brutal drug war rages in the country.

Rodriguez said a law enforcement officer’s death often strengthens the bonds in a community, at the same time highlighting the dangers officers face and the delicate nature of life itself.

“No officer’s death should be in vain, and we all see to it that it’s not,” he said. “We learn from it and we are better for it.”

Zapata was 32 years old when he was killed.

His death occurred just nine days after he arrived in Mexico City for a temporary assignment, based at the U.S. Embassy.

He and a fellow ICE officer were traveling in an armored U.S. government SUV when they were attacked by gunmen. The shooters were allegedly members of the Zetas crime organization.

On a highway between Monterrey and Mexico City bullets barraged their vehicle.

Zapata died. ICE Special Agent Victor Avila, of El Paso, was wounded.

A Texas congressman said that despite the vehicle’s reinforcements, Zapata might be alive today had its doors not automatically unlocked when the gears were put in park, according to a Washington Post report published on Wednesday.

Zapata’s death prompted a review of security procedures established for law enforcement officers assigned to the U.S. Embassy, a senior ICE official said Wednesday.

“Since the shooting a number of steps have been undertaken to improve personnel safety and vital information-sharing capabilities,” the official said.

In a statement on Wednesday, ICE noted that it continues to honor Zapata. ICE also said it has partnered with Mexican law enforcement to bring to justice his killers.

State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, said on Wednesday that he knew the Zapata family through church but had been unaware of the law enforcement work Jaime and several of his brother did.

“He was a noble young man,” Lucio said. “He seemed like a strong individual committed to his work and a loving member of his family.”

Lucio said he presented a proclamation to the family honoring their son in a ceremony on Wednesday.

After his death, the family founded the Jaime Jorge Zapata Foundation to help students interested in law enforcement and to aid the families of fallen officers.

Late last year, the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College posthumously honored Zapata with its Distinguished Alumni Award.

“If he met a person, he really met them for life,” his mother, Mary Zapata-Muñoz, said in a video presentation from the ceremony.

Others described Zapata’s personality, as well as his hopes and dreams and his plans to marry.

“We thought he was going to be safe,” Amador Zapata Jr. said of his son’s assignment in Mexico.