Remember Those Screaming Headlines about Migrants and Border ‘Whips’?

Commentary

December 2, 2021

By William Davis

If you haven’t heard anything about border patrol agents on horseback allegedly “whipping” migrants lately, it’s because the anti-borders Left and the corporate media just had another narrative blow up in its face.

After a weeks-long moral panic about Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) agents allegedly mistreating migrants, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is no longer pursuing an investigation into those agents. The DHS’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced earlier this month that they will not pursue an investigation of the agents, who were photographed on horseback in front of Haitian migrants earlier this year.

At the time, anti-borders groups and Biden administration officials falsely claimed that the agents were engaged in whipping the migrants, despite statements from the photographer that the agents were not using whips, but were merely holding onto their reigns. Still, the photos were used to engineer not only a smear campaign against innocent law enforcement officials, but dramatic policy changes within DHS.

When the photos first started circulating across the internet, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas initially defended the agents as doing their jobs. After the White House took a different tact, Mayorkas quickly backtracked and promised a swift investigation into the migrants that would be completed in a matter of days.

Mayorkas’ timeline turned out to be a sham, as the OIG announced nearly two months later that no investigation would take place. Despite the agents being cleared, much damage has already been done by the invective launched against them. After the incident, Mayorkas suspended the use of horses on the border, depriving border patrol agents of yet another crucial tool they need to secure the border and keep Americans safe.

Despite the OIG declining to investigate the agents, Mayorkas has not said when or if he will allow agents to resume using horses at the border, but his continued suspension of the policy based on false pretenses was a gift to anti-borders groups. By giving these groups a significant policy victory, Mayorkas and the White House are encouraging future character assassination campaigns against law enforcement agents.

It’s as if the Biden administration is doing everything in their power to make the jobs of border patrol agents harder. These agents were punished and smeared for simply doing their jobs. Joe Biden himself attacked these agents, vowing that they would “pay” for their actions. Biden wasn’t clear about what he had in mind, but it is clear that the agents have already faced many consequences, despite being essentially cleared by the OIG.

The agents were victimized by a public relations campaign orchestrated at the highest levels of power. They were removed from their posts, sent to desk duty for an indefinite amount of time, and left twisting in the wind for nearly two months before the OIG finally acknowledged that there was no basis for an investigation. That’s a lot for these agents to go through, all for doing their job.

Much has been written about the Biden administration’s incompetence, but not enough is said about their malevolence. This administration has constantly worked to undermine and impede the efforts of law enforcement to secure the border and keep this country safe. From releasing unvetted migrants into vulnerable communities, to declaring much of the country off limits for immigration enforcement authorities, to the disgraceful campaign against CBP agents attempting to repel an invasion, much of the damage this administration is inflicting at the border is being done intentionally. This is the work of the far-left ideologues and pro-illegal immigration zealots that make policy inside the Biden White House.

Smear campaigns and politically motivated hoaxes are nothing new for the left, especially on issues of immigration. Just three years ago, Time magazine featured a photo of a young girl crying in front of Donald Trump as its cover, suggesting that the girl was separated from her family at the border, except the girl on the cover was never separated from her family. It was a lie, just like the lie that border patrol agents on horseback were whipping Haitian migrants. But, as the saying goes, a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth finally comes out.

Because of orchestrated lies, millions of Americans now believe that border patrol agents whipped migrants at the border, just as they believed that the girl on the cover of Time magazine was separated from her family. That is the point of these hoaxes and smear campaigns. The left does not seek relief for victims of real injustices, but makes up fake injustices to further the false narrative that America itself is unjust.

William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.

Also published at: William J. Davis, Remember those screaming headlines about migrants and border ‘whips’?American Thinker, December 2, 2021.

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