By: Staff Writer
July 12, 2022
US Border Patrol on horseback had a “lack of control” of the situation at the border with Haitian migrants a report finds.
The 511-page “Report of Investigation” released last Friday, said that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had a “lack of command control and communication” for mounted agents using their horses to forcibly block and move migrants during an influx of Haitians arriving last September at the US border outside Del Rio, Texas.
An excerpt from the report read: “As a result of a lack of command, control, and communications, HPU (Horse Patrol Unit) personnel carried out an operation at the request of TXDPS (Texas Department of Public Safety) which directly contravened USBP (United States Border Patrol) operational objectives and resulted in the unnecessary use of force against migrants who were attempting to reenter the United States with food. They did so with authorization from their supervisor who was unable to obtain additional guidance from higher in the USBP chain of command at the time of the request.”
The heavily redacted report also said that the USBP was dealing with the wider humanitarian crisis unfolding and essentially did not have time to give proper guidance to the HPU, but USBP Chief Raul Ortiz accepted his responsibility in not handling the situation more carefully.
The report also said that Chief Ortiz also ordered more HPU’s to the situation and that he wanted the additional HPU’s to “show force” to the possible Haitians trying to enter the United States.
As a result of the investigation, four Border Patrol agents have been notified that they face disciplinary measures, according to senior CBP officials, who declined to talk about what those measures entail, citing an ongoing internal review and appeals process.
The probe concluded that miscommunication prompted a Border Patrol supervisor to authorize a horse patrol unit to help Texas officials stop migrants from entering the U.S. through the Rio Grande, despite CBP’s policy at the time of allowing migrants to retrieve supplies in Mexico and return to Texas across the river, the senior agency officials said during a call with reporters.
On Sept. 19, 2021, about 15,000 Haitian migrants had gathered underneath the international bridge from Mexico to Del Rio, Texas. Many then attempted to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. via a boat ramp less than half a mile from the legal U.S. port of entry.
The controversy escalated as some media outlets and Democratic lawmakers misidentified the agents’ split reins, which they use and twirl to control and direct the horse — and falsely claimed the agents were using “whips” on the migrants.
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden also weighed in, with Biden increasing the pressure on the besieged agents by repeating the false claims of whipping, and also previewed what he hoped would be the outcome of the investigation.