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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a resolution Monday saying the Department of Homeland Security should commend, rather than punish, the horseback Border Patrol agents who were falsely accused of “whipping” Haitian migrants in Texas last year.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this month said there was “no evidence” that Border Patrol struck Haitian migrants with their reins or used whips in Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 19, 2021, but the agency recommended punishment anyway for the agents for infractions such as “offensive” language and unnecessary force.
Cruz’s resolution says Border Patrol severely lacked the resources and adequate personnel to handle the Haitian migrant crisis leading up to the Del Rio incident, and that Democrats like Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “rushed to judgment” when they falsely accused agents of using their horse tack to whip the migrants.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, Sept. 19, 2021.
(Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images)
The resolution states that the Del Rio incident was “self-inflicted” by Biden’s immigration policies, which it says left the southern border “open and unsecured” and allowed a record-breaking 3,271,585 encounters between Border Patrol agents and illegal immigrants since the president took office.
CBP PROPOSES DISCIPLINE FOR TEXAS AGENTS ACCUSED OF ‘WHIPPING’ HAITIAN MIGRANTS
“The real problem is not the way Border Patrol agents treat illegal aliens, but the way the Biden administration encourages immigrants to break the law while undermining the heroes who are serving our country along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Cruz said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday introduced a resolution saying Homeland Security should “commend, rather than punish” Border Patrol agents falsely accused of “whipping” Haitian immigrants.
(Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
“I’ve been at the border numerous times, and I am always impressed with the humanity that our Border Patrol shows to illegal aliens who have been abused or worse by the cartels who smuggle them to the border,” he continued. “The Biden administration was not only complicit in the fake news narrative that developed about our mounted agents in Del Rio last year, but they actively fanned the flames. It is insulting for CBP to recommend those agents be reprimanded following an investigation that produced zero evidence of whipping. Congress must stand for the rule of law, and stand with our brave Border Patrol agents.”
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Cruz’s resolution says the decision to potentially discipline the four Border Patrol agents, who were placed on administrative after the Del Rio incident, “appears to be politically motivated to provide cover for the rush to judgment and blatant mischaracterization by the Biden administration…”
The resolution commends all Border Patrol agents who responded to the crisis “for their use of restraint” despite a “lack of clear rules of engagement,” and it concludes that the Department of Homeland Security “should commend, rather than punish,” the agents at the center of the controversy.
