President Joe Biden isn’t waiting for the investigation into Border Patrol agents seen in photos on horseback pursuing migrants on the southern border, declaring Friday their actions were “wrong” and that they “will pay.”
INDEPENDENTS WANT ACTION FROM BIDEN ON IMMIGRATION
“I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday. “There will be consequences. It’s an embarrassment. But beyond an embarrassment, it’s dangerous. It’s wrong.”
The agents on horseback seen chasing Haitian migrants who had illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near Del Rio, Texas, have been placed on leave. Immigrant advocates were initially angered by allegations the agents had whipped migrants with their horses’ reins, but their criticism has now turned to perceived differences between how Haitian and Latino migrants are treated.
Under pressure, the Department of Homeland Security is investigating the horseback incidents. That is despite Paul Ratje, the photographer who took the images, contending the whipping accusations had been “misconstrued.”
“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” Ratje said in an interview. “He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”
Biden spoke with reporters after lauding the White House’s booster COVID-19 vaccine shot plan. The plan had been delayed until the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved additional Pfizer-BioNTech doses for older people who live in nursing homes or are immunocompromised and had received their first jab six months ago. The president said he would get his shot as soon as possible.
Roughly 60 million people are now eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, according to Biden. CDC director Rochelle Walensky extended eligibility to those who work in high-risk environments, against an internal panel’s advice.
Biden also defended his vaccine mandates on Friday, pledging to roll out more requirements “wherever I can.” The president said business leaders had thanked him for “setting the policies to allow them to do the same thing.”
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“We still have over 70 million Americans who have failed to get a single shot. And to make matters worse, there are elected officials actively working to undermine, with false information, the fight against COVID-19. This is totally unacceptable,” he said. “The refusal to get vaccinated has cost all of us.”
