Texas Border Patrol On Horseback Use Whips While Gathering Haitian Migrants

There are certainly notable differences between Democrats and Republican and Democratic and Republican-run administrations, but when it comes to foreign occupation and the handling of any given immigration crisis at the U.S. border, the two parties often appear to be indistinguishable.

Source: PAUL RATJE / Getty

President Joe Biden promised his administration wouldn’t be Trump 2.0 when it came to the subject of immigration and, to be fair, he hasn’t quite defaulted on that promise all the way yet—but right now, under his administration, U.S. border agents in Del Rio, Texas, are rounding up thousands of Haitian migrants who had fled their nation, which suffered a massive earthquake that decimated the country’s infrastructure leaving countless human beings without food, water or power, and putting them on flights back to the homes they tried desperately to escape from.

According to CBS News, U.S. officials sent some 320 Haitian migrants between three flights to Port-au-Prince on Sunday and have moved to expel the rest of more than 12,000 migrants camped around a bridge in Del Rio who had crossed the border from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. In fact, the U.S. is planning to begin seven more of these expulsion flights daily starting Wednesday, and, since Friday, 3,300 migrants have already been removed from the Del Rio camp and either put on flights or sent to detention centers, according to U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.

Yael Schacher, the senior U.S. advocate at Refugees International, said massive deportations of this magnitude carried out without giving migrants the opportunity to seek asylum hasn’t happened since 1992. Those deportations also primarily involved—you guessed it—Haitian refugees.

“The rapid expulsions were made possible by a pandemic-related authority adopted by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 that allows for migrants to be immediately removed from the country without an opportunity to seek asylum,” CBS reported, also noting that Biden “exempted unaccompanied children from the order.” (So, there’s that, at least.)

But the issue isn’t just that U.S. officials are doing this, it’s how they’re going about it.

By now, many of you have seen the images of border patrol agents on horseback giving off big slave patrol energy by using what looked like whips while rounding up Black migrants for detention and/or immediate deportation.

According to the Associated Press, Ortiz and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas promised to look into the matter, but they both denied seeing anything wrong happening in the Texas town and they claimed the agents only used reigns to control their horses.

Mind you, Mayorkas is the same man who responded to the heartbreaking crisis with these words for migrants seeking refuge, according to AP:

“If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned. Your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family’s life.”

Imagine lecturing people who are already risking all to escape the imminent dangers of their homeland by warning them they are “endangering your life and your family’s life” by fleeing to somewhere that is clearly safer.

Meanwhile, the White House is doing its best not to look callous by being somewhat critical of what is happening at the Del Rio camp.

The Guardian reported that White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the agents on horseback and she responded saying;

“I have seen some of the footage. I don’t have the full context. I can’t imagine what context would make that appropriate. I don’t think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate.”

Has Psaki even met Ortiz, Mayorkas or the millions of conservative Americans who have always met immigration news with contempt and apathy?

Source: PAUL RATJE / Getty

*Editor’s Note: Our original headline claimed that Border Patrol agents were using whips against Haitian migrants citing a viral photo of a Border Patrol agent on horseback pursuing a Haitian migrant. The photographer of the photo in question told PolitiFact that he did not see the agent whip the migrant — he saw him grab him by the shirt as the horse’s reins dangled.

The Border Patrol agent “is grabbing the Haitian with his right hand and has his reins in his left hand. The rein swings up,” photographer Ratje of AFP said to PolitiFact. The migrant then “got swung around,” Ratje said, but the agent eventually let go.

Ratje also said he saw a Border Patrol agent swing his horse’s rein in the air while migrants were in the river. One migrant who was holding bags of food fell backward.