White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Thursday that Border Patrol agents will be banned from using horses in the Del Rio, Texas, area, referring to the āhorrible and horrificā use of them to stop Haitian migrants.
āI can also convey to you that the secretary also conveyed to civil rights leaders earlier this morning that we will no longer be using horses in Del Rio,ā Psaki said during Thursdayās daily briefing.
āThat is a policy change that has been made in response.ā
CNN also reported a Department of Homeland Security official told reporters that the use of horses would be ātemporarily suspendedā in the Del Rio sector.
āWe have ceased the use of the horse patrol in Del Rio temporarily. Weāll prioritize other methods for identifying individuals who might be in medical distress,ā the DHS official said.
The policy change came after controversy generated by media reports that indicated Haitian migrants were being mistreated by Border Patrol agents guarding the border on horseback.
Some claimed the officials had āwhippedā migrants. However, the accusations were soon debunked as the āwhipsā were only reins used in guiding horses.
The accusations came after the widespread publication of photos that gave the appearance that a whip was used on a migrant.
The fact that the accusation had been debunked didnāt stop California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters from using the manufactured outrage to in speaking out on the issue.
At a news conference Wednesday, Waters said the Border Patrol agents were trying to ātake us back to slavery days.ā
āHaitians fleeing violence & the lack of a credible government in Haiti are being treated like animals. U.S. government cowboys on horses used whips on Haitians as they sought refuge,ā Waters wrote in a Twitter post Tuesday.
The congresswoman also found a way to place blame on former President Donald Trump during her tweet.
āWhy are we following the Trump policies? This horrendous treatment of Haitians must STOP NOW,ā she added.
āIām not just unhappy with the cowboys who were running down Haitians and using their reins to whip them. Iām unhappy with the administration. We are following the Trump policy,ā Waters said at the Wednesday news conference, according to CNN.
By the time of the congresswomanās Twitter post on Tuesday, the story that started Sunday with a mistaken description of Border Patrol agents on horseback using whips against illegal immigrants near Del Rio had already been debunked.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
