DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas meets with Border Patrol horseback agents falsely accused of whipping migrants
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a private meeting on Wednesday with the Border Patrol agents who were falsely accused in 2021 of whipping Haitian migrants along the banks of the Rio Grande, according to a report.
The DHS chief, however, did not apologize for his overreaction to images of the agents riding on horseback – with split reins – while trying to block the migrants from entering the US near Del Rio, Texas, according to Fox News.
A day after the Sept. 19, 2021, fracas, Mayorkas defended the agents to the press, pointing out that the reins were used to control the horses, not to whip people.
But days later, the DHS chief changed his tune.
“I made the statements without having seen the images,” he said from the White House press briefing room on Sept. 24, 2021.
“The horses have long reins, and the image in the photograph that we all saw, and that horrified the nation, raised serious questions about what … occurred and as I stated quite clearly, it conjured up images of what has occurred in the past,” Mayorkas added, referring to slavery in the US.
President Biden also denounced the images of the agents keeping guard of the southern border.
“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped — it’s outrageous,” he told reporters.
“I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden said of the agents. “There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”
The ensuing Customs and Border Protection internal investigation found that no migrants were harmed during the incident, the agents did not carry whips and did not strike anyone with their reins.
While the agents were cleared of the most sensational allegation, the probe determined that they had used “unnecessary” force against the migrants and that one agent used “denigrating and inappropriate language” and “maneuvered his horse unsafely” during the incident.
The president has not apologized for leveling the debunked whipping accusation against the agents.
The meeting between the agents and Mayorkas was described as “professional and respectful,” according to Fox News, and it offered the agents an opportunity to explain to the Cabinet member how the incident affected their lives and careers.
