Back in April, I wrote that the Department of Homeland Security cleared a group of Border Patrol agents of wrongdoing after a photograph by Paul Ratje appeared to show the agents whipping illegal migrants from Haiti with horse whips.
The agents were actually prodding their horses, but many on the left, including prominent members of the Biden administration, leaped into a frenzy based on a misinterpretation of the photo. Sen. Chuck Schumer called the alleged actions of the agents “inhumane” and “unacceptable,” while Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas opined, “We were indeed horrified by the images. That is not who we are.” (The main reason why it wasn’t who they are is that it never happened.)
Even the president and vice president got in on the action of falsely condemning these agents. Joe Biden said that “those people will pay … There will be consequences.” Kamala Harris gallingly compared the Border Patrol agents to slaveholders!
The final report from Homeland Security, which clocks in at a whopping 511 pages, concluded that the Office of Personal Responsibility of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had found “no evidence that [Border Patrol agents] involved in this incident struck, intentionally or otherwise, any migrant with their reins.”
Nobody in the administration has apologized to these agents, but it gets worse. The investigation still declared that the agents applied “unnecessary” force to the illegal immigrants, while one agent in particular used “denigrating and inappropriate language and to have maneuvered his horse unsafely.”
“The report also found that agents ‘used force or the threat of force to drive migrants back … despite the fact they were well within the territorial boundary of the United States’ and posed no threat,” according to the New York Post.
The investigators recommended that four agents be punished, with degrees of discipline ranging from a letter of reprimand to termination.
Related: Border Agents Vindicated!
Customs and Border Patrol Chris Magnus told reporters on Friday that “whips are not part of Border Patrol training or equipment.”
“Likewise, OPR investigators determined that the agents involved in the Del Rio activity were not carrying whips,” he also said.
Magnus admitted that he was dismayed at the length of time it took for the investigation and the release of the report, especially after Mayorkas declared last fall that the investigation would take “days, not weeks.”
“I’m not happy about the length of time,” Magnus said.
Magnus also struck an apologetic tone when he said, “It’s clear from the investigation that decisions made by some of the agency’s leadership, and the lack of appropriate policies and training all contributed to the incident. But there is no justification for the actions of some of our personnel, including unprofessional and deeply offensive conduct.”
The head of the Border Patrol Union called the recommendations of discipline a “political hit job” against the agents and vowed to fight any punitive measures “until all avenues are exhausted.”
“Unfortunately, the President made this the spectacle it’s become,” union chief Brandon Judd told the New York Post. “If he would have just kept his mouth shut and let the process play out like it should have instead of passing judgment before the facts were in, we wouldn’t be discussing this right now.”
“We are interested in a complete exoneration and not necessarily a political spectacle,” Judd added.
Let’s hope these agents receive justice — because we know they’ll never get an apology from the administration.
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