Border agents who were smeared by White House officials and prominent Democrat figures after being falsely accused of ‘whipping’ Haitian illegal immigrants have reportedly been cleared by officials.
According to NewsBusters, Fox News has reported the news about the exoneration despite it being a major media controversy in September 2021.
Lucas Tomlinson, a reporter for Fox News Channel’s Extra Report indicated the network “has learned that officials have cleared the horse-mounted border patrol agencies of wrongdoing after they were accused of whipping migrants in September and placing them on probation.”
The controversy began with images circulating on social media that purported to show a Border Patrol agent using a “whip” to corral predominantly Haitian illegal immigrants who were crossing the border in Texas.
What’s unfathomable is the stupidity involved in thinking you’d get away with lying.
Hey @TwitterSupport – You need to pull this tweet and ban this clown.
He’s spreading a ‘big lie.’
Here’s the alternate angle… pic.twitter.com/70BzKUGT7B
— Rusty Weiss 🇺🇸 (@rustyweiss74) September 21, 2021
RELATED: Ilhan Omar Accuses Border Patrol Agents Of ‘Obvious Systematic Racism’ And Using ‘Whips’ On Illegal Immigrants
Border Agents Cleared of ‘Whipping’
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Alternate angles of the same image made it fairly clear Starting at the onset that border agents weren’t ‘whipping’ anyone at all.
“We do not carry whips and the only thing I see in their hands is reins,” one agent said at the time.
And while some outlets were focusing on the agent swinging the reins ‘menacingly,’ Townhall senior writer Julio Rosas spoke with another agent then who explained such actions are done to protect the horse or even to protect the person from the horse.
From a Border Patrol source: “Agents use their reins for a lot of reasons. Primarily it’s used to steer the horse, but agents will also spin them sometimes to deter people from getting too close to the horse…We are not aware of anyone being struck with the reins.” https://t.co/yxxyoAuklh pic.twitter.com/t3o3h9dJbL
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 20, 2021
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas shortly after the incident announced that the border agents had been shifted to desk duty and vowed an investigation would be “completed in days, if not weeks.”
Nearly seven years later, Republican senators asked the DHS for the release of the results from the probe.
Fox News’ latest report marks a quiet and very coincidentally timed conclusion.
🚨🚨: Fox reporting that the mounted Border Patrol agents falsely accused of “whipping” illegal migrants in Del Rio have been cleared!
After being ridiculed by Mayorkas, Biden, and others, I hope these men feel completely restored. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/oN1NpshQ1I
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) April 13, 2022
RELATED: Maxine Waters Says Treatment Of Haitian Illegal Immigrants ‘Worse Than Slavery’
Are there any Apologies?
There are many Democrats and White House employees who owe these agents an apology for falsely accusing the border agents of whipping Haitian migrants.
Bret Baier from Fox News reminded viewers about the length of this process and how vital it was to media. He did so in September 2021.
“We are just getting to the back end of this investigation where the guys are not being punished … and remember how much coverage was given to that moment?” he remarked.
Now you won’t hear a peep.
Not from MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who spoke with Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) saying: “I was not aware that whips – which come from the slave era, slavery era – were part of the package that we issue to any sort of law enforcement or government-sanctioned personnel.”
Not from Omar herself who replied that she found the alleged ‘whipping’ “appalling” and claimed, “there is obviously systematic racism at play here.”
‘What we’ve seen was cruel, inhumane’: Rep. Omar addresses pictures that appear to show a Border Patrol agent on horseback with a whip to deter migrants pic.twitter.com/ouyuAzRwFu
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 21, 2021
Nor will you likely hear a word out of fellow Squad member, Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) who said, “Congress must do the work of investigating and ensuring accountability of the egregious and white supremacist behavior of Border Patrol agents in Del Rio Texas.”
Rep. Pressley on situation at U.S. southern border: “Haitian lives are Black lives, and if we truly believe that Black lives matter, then we must reverse course.”
“The Biden administration must immediately…halt all deportations of Haitian migrants.” https://t.co/tUeqoESHTP pic.twitter.com/gJXxntTS1q
— ABC News (@ABC) September 22, 2021
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) probably won’t amend her comments that the treatment of Haitian illegal immigrants was “worse than what we witnessed in slavery” either.
“I’m pissed,” she said. “I’m unhappy and I’m not just unhappy with the cowboys who were running down Haitians and using their reins to whip them.”
Maxine Waters peddled fake news of Border Patrol agents “whipping” illegal migrants, then absurdly claimed it was “worse than slavery.” pic.twitter.com/w8EkNCNGpF
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) September 23, 2021
Will any reporters ask White House press secretary Jen Psaki whether she still believes the images to be “obviously horrific”?
Jen Psaki also jumped in several times. Here she is Monday, saying, “Of course they should never be able to do it again…It’s obviously horrific.”
Then, ironically, she says that her needs more information. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/1Ns85IqzNP
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) September 24, 2021
They will also press President Biden about the matter, after he threatened making the border agents now completely exonerated pay.
“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped – it’s outrageous,” the President had said, making a whipping motion with his hand for good measure.
“I promise you, those people will pay,” added Biden. “There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”
6 months ago, Biden promised to make Border Patrol agents “pay” for doing their jobs: “there will be consequences.”
Joe Biden hasn’t apologized yet. pic.twitter.com/rpSv4HbObn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 28, 2022
Instead, Democrats and media only bring us crickets.
According to a DHS representative, The Washington Examiner heard in January that the administration might be better off keeping the report secret.
“I doubt that the current administration will release this report on the horse patrol incident because it makes the administration look terrible,” the official said.
“They essentially convicted the mounted agents based upon a lie, which the investigation after 120 days would surely have revealed.”
The report was released, though, a few months after they had expected. It is clear that the report makes the White House appear terrible.
Because of those lies, the agents were under investigation and kept on desk duty. Who is going to be investigated and pay now that they’ve been cleared?