Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas corrected Grio reporter April Ryan at a White House press briefing Thursday afternoon over her false claim that Border Patrol agents whipped Haitian migrants in a September 2021 border incident in the Del Rio sector of Texas. Mayorkas told Ryan an investigation disproved the whipping accusation, but Ryan stood by her false smear of the agents.
Mayorkas took questions for almost an hour from reporters on the occasion of the border with Mexico being overrun by migrants as the Title 42 exclusion rule is set to expire nationwide at midnight EDT Thursday.
Mayorkas corrects April Ryan when she brings up the “Haitians being whipped with the reins of the horses,” noting “the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur.”
Ryan: “Maybe either the video or the picture was fixed but what I saw was totally different.” pic.twitter.com/sPLPRLMXAx
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 11, 2023
Ryan’s false claim echoes Joe Biden who attacked the agents in 2021 without knowing the facts and has not apologized to them.
BIDEN throws the Border Patrol under the bus, furthers the Whipgate Hoax (“straps”), promising “consequences”, and that “people will pay” subsequent to an investigation. You’d think the Border Patrol droned Afghan kids, or something. pic.twitter.com/krfxigFkkC
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 24, 2021
Customs and Border Patrol released a report last July on the September 2021 incident that cleared the agents of the whipping allegation but found some had committed other policy violations.
Excerpt from Texas Public Radio report headlined: CBP report finds ‘no evidence’ of border agent whipping Haitian migrants, despite viral photo :
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigation found several faults in the U.S. Border Patrol’s handling of last September’s arrival of tens of thousands of Haitians at the Del Rio border.
While the investigation resulted from an image that seemed to depict a Border Patrol officer whipping an asylum-seeker, the CBP report released on Friday said there is no known evidence this happened.
Investigators found “failures at multiple levels of the agency.” The findings also included a lack of appropriate policies and training.
The report cited inadequate leadership and multiple instances of agents using “inappropriate and denigrating” language toward some Haitians at the border.
Video shows agents were trying to stop migrants from freely crossing back and forth from Mexico and the U.S.
“This is why your country’s shit, because you use your women for this!” — mounted Border Patrol officer to Haitian migrant he was riding down, as he sheltered with his family.
One of the scenes we saw on the Rio Grande. Watch our video:
Full report:https://t.co/V4KeMobCfs pic.twitter.com/UdUcC7B5IS
— John Holman (@johnholman100) September 20, 2021
Ryan took to Twitter to further express her doubt on the report, adding an unnamed White House official also questions the report clearing agents of whipping the migrants.
Maybe its just me but! pic.twitter.com/mfgkxc5i3f
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 11, 2023
And one more the reign is how close or on the person? pic.twitter.com/6k3ZpmPeRQ
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 11, 2023
Oh let me post this again especially after a White House official just told me they question the report too. https://t.co/pfRDb4F3wk
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 11, 2023
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit