White House Bans Use of Border Patrol Horses at Del Rio
FAIR Take | September 2021
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the Department of Homeland Security moved to end the use of horses at the Del Rio sector. This comes after the media frenzy and overreaction to photos taken of Border Patrol agents on horseback apprehending migrants. Media figures and Democratic politicians falsely accused the agents of using “whips” on the migrants.
Reporting from the Washington Examiner described the media’s misinformation and overreaction. The Examiner reported:
First, the footage used to perpetuate this bogus narrative shows that nothing of the sort occurred at the border crossing. The images from Del Rio show only that mounted officers used their reins to steer their horses and corral refugees. There is nothing to suggest law enforcement officials used whips. There is no evidence border agents even struck Haitians. Second, immigration officers aren’t issued whips.
The overreaction by prominent figures – and particularly Democratic politicians – is astounding. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) declared that the supposed use of “whips” by Border Patrol agents “takes us back hundreds of years. What we witnessed was worse than what we witnessed in slavery.” Al Sharpton held a press conference where he echoed Rep. Waters’ sentiments, accusing the Border Patrol of racist behavior toward the illegal aliens.
This episode is just one example of the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border. Apprehensions are at record highs with no fall-off in sight. DHS announced that the vast majority of Afghans brought to the U.S. are not SIV holders or applicants, but rather unknown Afghans who somehow made it onto a U.S.-bound flight during the disastrous Kabul evacuation.
And now, the sudden appearance of tens of thousands of Haitians at the border revealed the administration’s incompetence at performing basic immigration enforcement. Rather than supporting the men and women in uniform, Biden’s White House chose to scapegoat them. This move shows that the Biden administration would rather side with the rabblerousers such as Rep. Waters and Al Sharpton rather than stand up and defend these Border Patrol agents, who did nothing wrong and were doing their job.