Border Patrol agents are fearful of carrying out their duties a full year after President Joe Biden and his administration demonized federal law enforcement on false grounds of whipping immigrants, according to a report.
Brandon Judd, the national president of the Border Patrol union, said the fallout from the incident in late September has caused federal police to think twice before doing regular parts of their jobs.
“Border Patrol agents are very hesitant to do their jobs knowing that they could be accused by the most powerful man in the world of a crime,” said Judd, head of the National Border Patrol Council, in an interview with Fox News.
“Now, you just have a bunch of agents that are very, very hesitant to go out there and do the best that they possibly can for fear that they’re going to come under investigation, that they’re going to be accused of a crime as well,” he said.
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In a highly publicized incident that unfolded as 30,000 mostly Haitian migrants came across the Rio Grande from Mexico and set up camp under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, mounted Border Patrol agents were photographed and filmed attempting to prevent people from walking across the river and past their horses on the U.S. shoreline.
Male immigrants ignored agents’ verbal orders to turn around, and the mounted agents rode along the riverbank as migrants tried to get past them. In a photograph, an agent appeared to use something in his hand to whip a man, though the Border Patrol has since said the agent had held the horse’s reins in such a way to create distance between the animal and the man to prevent the horse from trampling him.
At the time of the incident, people on social media suggested agents had whipped immigrants. Before any investigation had been undertaken, top Biden administration officials condemned the federal law enforcement agents.
“It was horrible what — to see, as you saw — to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. It’s outrageous,” Biden said on Sept. 24, 2021. “I promise you, those people will pay. They will be — an investigation is underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences. It’s an embarrassment. But beyond an embarrassment, it’s dangerous; it’s wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world. It sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are.”
Vice President Kamala Harris told The View on Sept. 25, 2021, that the photos “invoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behavior has been used against the indigenous people of our country — it has been used against African Americans during times of slavery.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas vowed before Congress on Sept. 22, 2021, that a federal investigation into the matter would conclude within “a matter of days, not weeks.”
In July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus announced the results of the investigation. The four agents would face discipline for minor infractions, but he vindicated the agents against charges they whipped or used reins to harm migrants, adding that the Border Patrol does not issue agents whips.
“We’re still feeling that impact today,” Judd said this month.
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Neither Biden nor any administration official has publicly rescinded their accusations or apologized to the four Border Patrol agents.
Jon Anfinsen, union president for the Del Rio chapter, did not respond to a request for comment.
