Seven years after the scandal broke that the Obama administration sold weapons illegally to Mexican Cartel members, only for one of the guns to be used in the murder of border patrol agent Brian Terry, no one from the 44th president’s administration has been held accountable.
In July, the latest of the alleged perpetrators and conspirators in Terry’s death was charged with his murder. The seventh anniversary of Terry’s death is Dec. 14.
“Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, 38, faces first-degree murder charges for the December 2010 slaying of Terry at a remote canyon near Rio Rico,” according to an AZ Central report.
Osorio-Arellanes was extradited to the United States in August.
Terry’s murder shined a light on “Operation Fast & Furious,” during which the Obama administration allowed firearms dealers to sell weapons to illegally to “straw purchasers,” otherwise known as cartel gangbangers, in hopes of tracing the firearms to the cartels. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lost track of the weapons, and Terry was murdered with one of them.
Still, no one in the Obama administration has been held accountable for Terry’s death.
“There may be a situation here which a serious mistake was made and if that’s the case then we’ll find out and well hold somebody accountable,” Obama said in 2011.
But no one was held accountable.
Nobody involved in the scheme was ever pressed to provide answers to the American people, who were rightfully concerned. Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, who now routinely scolds President Donald J. Trump on Twitter, refused to release internal Justice Department documents relating to the operation after the Republican-led House of Representatives subpoenaed the documents. He was held in contempt of Congress – the first Attorney General to be bestowed with such an honor.
In 2012, after receiving zero cooperation from the Obama administration, Terry’s family sued the federal government for negligence and wrongful death. The notoriously liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later dismissed the suit, quashing any chance the the family might receive answers that way.
Osorio-Arellanes was arrested by the Mexican Navy in April of 2017, and has been awaiting extradition since. He is one of seven defendants facing charges for their roles in Terry’s death, including three men who have pleaded guilty, two others who have been tried and convicted, and another who is awaiting trial.
Sessions assured the American public in July that this is a step in the right direction in the everlasting battle against gun and drug running Mexican cartels, whose operations would severely be hindered by a border wall.
“To anyone who would take the life of an American citizen, in particular an American law enforcement officer, this action sends a clear message,” Sessions reportedly said. “Working closely with our international partners, we will hunt you down, we will find you, and we will bring you to justice.”
Osorio-Arellanes will be tried in the Southern District of California, and also faces charges for assaulting three other border patrol agents during the Terry shooting.