Biden admin bans use of horses by Border Patrol after alleged whipping controversy

AP Photo/Felix Marquez

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The Biden administration has banned the use of horses by the U.S. Border Patrol, following a controversy involving horseback-mounted agents whose reins were either deliberately or mistakenly identified as “whips” by members of the press, pundits, and politicians. Reins, which horse riders use to steer their mounts, see a variety of uses. Riders can spin them to deter people from getting too close to the horse. 

Speaking on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the administration will be prohibiting the use of horses by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas, where thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly from Haiti, have amassed to cross into the United States.

As detailed in Rebel News earlier this week, Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he was “horrified” by images of Border Patrol agents appearing to threaten Haitian migrants with their reins. Although he initially defended the use of horses, the images and videos of agents allegedly whipping migrants defy “all of the values that we seek to instill in our people,” he said.

“So what he has asked all of us to convey clearly to people who are understandably have questions, are passionate, are concerned as we are about the images that we have seen, is one, we feel those images are horrible and horrific,” Psaki stated. “There is an investigation the President certainly supports, overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, which he has conveyed will happen quickly.”

“I can also convey to you that the Secretary also conveyed to civil rights leaders earlier this morning that we would no longer be using horses in Del Rio,” Psaki continued. “So that is something, a policy change, that has been made in response, but separately, all related, it’s also important for people to understand what our process and our immigration process is and what the steps are that are taken.”

WATCH:

#BREAKING: Jen Psaki announces that horses will now be BANNED from being used in Del Rio by Border Patrol agents, citing the "horrible and horrific" use of them to prevent Haitian illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S. pic.twitter.com/hlyZeJVbU2

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 23, 2021

Former U.S. Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott condemned the Biden administration for its “seismic shift” in border security and immigration policy, which has seen record-high numbers of illegal border crossings since Biden took office in late January. Scott blamed the Biden administration for having “created the current border crisis.”

“The Biden administration’s team at DHS is laser-focused on expediting the flow of migrants into the U.S. and downplaying the significant vulnerability this creates for terrorists, narcotics smugglers, human traffickers, and even hostile nations to gain access to our homeland,” Scott wrote in a letter to U.S. Senate leaders, per the Daily Wire. “In my professional assessment, the U.S. Border Patrol is rapidly losing the situational awareness required to know who and what is entering our Homeland.”

“Low level, unsophisticated and uneducated smugglers are illegally crossing the border and increasingly evading apprehension daily,” Scott warned. “To think that well-resourced terrorist networks, criminal organizations, and hostile nations are not doing the same is naive.”