Lawmakers Demand Answers From Biden Administration On 2021 Border Patrol ‘Whipping’ Incident

A group of House Republicans sent a letter Monday to the Biden Administration demanding they “correct the false narrative that United States Border Patrol agents ‘whipped’ Haitian migrants” attempting to illegally enter the U.S. in September.

Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy, along with six other congressional republicans, are calling on the administration to immediately release the findings of Custom and Border Protections (CBP) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) “investigative work” on the incident.

“For four months, the Biden Administration and your Department have gone without even apologizing to the agents that were smeared,” the letter, addressed to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, states. “The widespread narrative of whipping based on a demonstrable lie – especially by members of this administration – demands that the public record be finalized by publicly disclosing the ‘investigative work’ conducted.”

“The American people deserve transparency from their government, and the United States Border Patrol deserves defense from their Department’s Secretary against unfounded accusations,” the letter continued.

The Washington Examiner reported recently that a DHS official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they “doubt that the current administration will release this report on the horse patrol incident because it makes the administration look terrible.”

Sorting through my footage from the border. I was in the river during the viral incident between a Haitian migrant and mounted CBP agent. It’s shaky – but here’s what I captured. pic.twitter.com/fnvxSU83tO

— Sarah Blake Morgan (@StorytellerSBM) September 24, 2021

“They essentially convicted the mounted agents based upon a lie, which the investigation after 120 days would surely have revealed.”

Border patrol agents came under fire in September after images showed the agents swinging reins in the air as migrants attempted to illegally cross into the U.S.. While none of the videos or photos posted to social media actually depicted any migrants being whipped, several on the left and in the media claimed the migrants were whipped. Vice News declared agents were “whipping Haitian migrants” in a tweet but in-story claimed the agents were simply “swinging whips” in the faces of migrants. (RELATED: NYT Corrects Claim That Border Patrol Used Reins To ‘Whip’ Haitian Migrants)

MSNBC host Joy Reid said the agents were given “whips, which come from the slave era” to “use on humans.” Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters said the images were “worse than what we witnessed in slavery.”

Photographer Paul Ratie, who captured the infamous images, later confirmed he never actually saw any agents “whipping” migrants and that his photos were being misinterpreted, according to KTSM.

“Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses,” he reportedly said. “I’ve never seen them whip anyone. He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”