Lauren C. Moye, FISM News
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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Antony Mayorkas knew that border patrol agents seen in controversial viral images did not whip Haitian migrants, yet the top Biden administration official still called the images “horrifying” to the press hours later.
Fox News first broke the story based on information shared with them from a Heritage Foundation freedom of information act.
NEW: FOIA requests showed DHS @SecMayorkas was privately told the mounted Border agents whipping narrative was false, and he STILL chose to LIE about their actions.
His actions ruined their careers simply to distract Americans from their BORDER DISASTER. @BillFOXLA reports: pic.twitter.com/fgZZwOKj4g
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) October 12, 2022
Heritage Foundation’s oversight project senior advisor Mike Howell later shared the full email on his social media to back up the report.
Marsha Espinosa, the assistant secretary for DHS public affairs, shared an article published by KTSM out of El Paso based on an exclusive interview with the photographer behind the images. This email was sent on Sept. 24, 2021, shortly after noon.
“The photos caused outrage because from certain angles, it appears to show Border Patrol whipping migrants, but photographer Paul Ratje said he and his colleagues never saw agents whipping anyone,” the article read.
It further explained that the Haitian immigrants attempted to go around the horses.
“I’ve never seen them whip anyone. He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture,” Ratje said to KTSM, referencing the split reins mistakenly identified as a whip in the photographs.
The email was also copied to other crucial DHS officials including the then-Interim Chief of Staff Jennifer Higgins, Deputy Chief of Staff Jeff Rezmovic, and Counsellor to the DHS Secretary, Isabella Ulloa.
Despite this advanced warning, at around 2:34 p.m. EDT, Mayorkas stated during a joint press conference with then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki, “Our nation saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are. We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism.”
Mayorkas followed the lead of other top Democrats with his statement, despite the harm it would bring to the four patrol agents and despite knowing the pictures had been misinterpreted.
President Joe Biden responded to the images by saying the DHS agents “will pay” and that “it’s wrong.” He referred to the incident as agents “strapping” illegal border crossers.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Psaki called the incident “horrible” on separate occasions.
Psaki also implied at one point that no context that would make what was seen in the photos appropriate.
The images initially surfaced on Sept. 20, 2021. By the third day, Ratje spoke out against the narrative being portrayed based on his work. This interview was referenced by one member of the press during the Sept. 24 press gaggle, showing it had already gained some traction and visibility outside of private correspondence to Mayorkas.
“Before the facts are in, is it helpful to your investigation for the President of the United States to use inflammatory language, like people being ‘strapped’?” asked this press member.
Yet Mayorkas sidestepped the line of questioning, insisting that “how one uses the horse and how one interacts with individuals” was a relevant consideration in the investigation. Meanwhile, the investigation would be conducted with “integrity” no matter what was said by the top leaders in the U.S.
In July, after a nine-month investigation, the federal investigation into the agents’ conduct found they had not struck anyone with their reins according to Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Chris Magnus.
However, Magnus said the agents were still recommended for disciplinary action for conduct including “unnecessary force.”
The agents, who have been on administrative leave since the false narrative about the images went viral, are facing discipline between 3 to 14 days of unpaid suspension, according to a Fox News report.
The White House and Mayorkas have not yet retracted their inflammatory statements or apologized to the agents.