Thursday, March 24, 2022

Border Patrol Union Fears Agents Getting Railroaded in DHS Probe of ‘whipping’ Haitian Migrants; Photographer Says Border Patrol Agents Didn’t Whip Haitian Migrants

Associated Press
Border Patrol union fears agents getting railroaded in DHS probe of ‘whipping’ Haitian migrants:
Biden vowed agents 'will pay' after encounter at migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas
President Biden was adamant after images of tense confrontations between horse-mounted Border Patrol agents and Haitian migrants emerged in September, vowing that the agents “will pay.”
One image showed a mounted agent with reins in his hand while a Haitian dodged around the horse, which led some to speculate that the migrant was being whipped. A video caught another agent insulting a migrant and calling Haiti “s—-.”
Vice President Kamala Harris likened the agents’ treatment of the Haitians to the oppression of plantation slavery. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas initially defended the agents but then rushed to Capitol Hill to condemn them and promised lawmakers results from his investigation within “days.”
That was six months ago.
Now, with the investigation dragging on, several agents remain sidelined from field duty and fellow agents fear the department is setting them up as fall guys to fulfill Mr. Biden’s demand for someone “to pay.”
“Why would it be taking six months if they’re not trying to dot their i’s and cross their t’s to find some wrongdoing?” said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council. “Biden, Harris and Mayorkas already convicted them. If this investigation comes back that there is no wrongdoing, then they are going to look completely and totally incompetent. Therefore, these investigators have one choice, and that is to trump up some finding of wrongdoing.” --->READ MORE HERE
AP Photo/Felix Marquez
Photographer says Border Patrol agents didn’t whip Haitian migrants:
A photographer who took photos of mounted Border Patrol agents in a tense encounter with Haitian migrants earlier this week says he didn’t see any whipping, puncturing the outrage that the White House and immigrant-rights activists have aimed at the agents.
Paul Ratje told KTSM, an El Paso, Texas, television station, that he saw the migrants running and dodging around the horses that agents were riding, and the agents were swinging their reins but weren’t targeting the migrants.
“He was swinging it, but I didn’t see him actually whip someone with it,” the photographer told the station. “That’s something that can be misconstrued when you’re looking at it.”
His explanation tracks with what Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who has ridden horse patrol himself before, told reporters in Texas on Monday.
“Trying to take control of those horses so we do not get in a position where we injure a migrant as they’re trying to make that treacherous trek across that river is probably more important than anything and I’m pretty sure and confident that that’s exactly what was happening,” the chief said. --->READ MORE HERE
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