In September 2021, we reported extensively on the “Whipgate,” nontroversy created by The Usual Suspects. They claimed that Customs and Border Protection officers mounted on horses could be seen “whipping” Haitian migrants as they attempted to cross the southern border.
The photographer who took the “controversial”, but still unpublished photos, said in an interview that they were “misconstrued” and the story was quickly thrown out of control.
The Biden White House didn’t hesitate to jump on the story, citing the “racism of the agents”. President Biden stated unambiguously that those who “strapped” migrants “will pay” and Vice President Kamala Harris was one of many Democrats who made the comparisons between the agents and plantation slave owners.
Soon after the story broke Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas assured lawmakers that an investigation would be completed “in days, not weeks” and called the alleged whipping “horrifying” at a press conference with Jen Psaki, then-press secretary.
We are now more than a year later, and the CBP agents have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. However, they were also punished by the CBP for “denigrating remarks” and riding a horse about a child in an “unsafe” manner. This is, in my view, grounds for impeachment.
This report was filed Wednesday morning by Bill Melugin, Fox News reporter
NEW: Email reveals DHS Secretary Mayorkas was alerted by DHS’ top public affairs official that the “whipping” narrative behind horseback BP photos wasn’t true, but at a WH press conference 2.5 hours later, he didn’t refute that narrative, instead calling the images “horrifying”. pic.twitter.com/Qyfy2NBkNo
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) October 12, 2022
Marsha Espinosa was the assistant secretary of public affairs at DHS and sent the email to Mayorkas. It was sent hours after President Biden falsely accused agents of strapping migrants, promising they would pay, and hours prior to Mayorkas’ presser,” Melugin reported.
BORDER PATROL WHIPPING CONTROVERSY RESURFACES: Newly obtained @DHSgov emails report that @AliMayorkas knew migrants weren’t whipped. @BillFOXLA brings us the latest:@BillHemmer @DanaPerino pic.twitter.com/7MNzCwGux5
— America’s Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) October 12, 2022
The email referred to the KTSM story in which the photographer claimed that the photos were being “misconstrued.” We also wrote about it at the time.
Melugin reported that National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd stated that the email was obtained by Heritage following a long battle. This was “smoking guns evidence” that the Biden Administration knew the story was false but continued to use it for their “self-interests”.
He stated that it was clear that they were willing to lie to American citizens for their own self-interest. They withheld facts, and if you withhold facts from American citizens… you should resign from your job. Better men step down. They are clearly not better men.
Indeed.
As I have said before, there was never a “there” to this story. Most accounts, including those of the photographer, show that the CBP agents didn’t act out of bounds or “whip” any migrants. The White House, Harris, Mayorkas, and other officials responded in the same way, and this “investigation” was dragged out. This is likely because they tried to give credence to the administration’s knee-jerk concerns about what (didn’t) happen.
The disciplinary actions were ultimately about saving Joe Biden’s bacon for this manufactured issue.
Disgusting. Direct apology to the agents is required and DHS should immediately roll. They won’t because it would be like high-ranking officials admitting that this administration – from top to bottom – was corrupted royally. Of course, they won’t admit that.
If Republicans win control of Congress, impeachment should be considered for Mayorkas. If throwing your agents under the bus, especially over something so egregious like what they were accused of, in an effort to advance false political narratives isn’t grounds enough to impeach, then I don’t know why.
