US Homeland Security to investigate whipping by patrol officers on Haitian Migrants

The images of a US Border Patrol agent riding a horse and hitting Haitian migrants with a whip at the Mexican border in Texas recently went viral.

Wednesday, 22nd September 2021

The images of a US Border Patrol agent riding a horse and hitting Haitian migrants with a whip at the Mexican border in Texas recently went viral. After the photos spread like a storm across social media, the Department of Homeland Security declared an investigation into the incident. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated the officers in question would be transferred outside Del Rio, where the incident occurred. Meanwhile, starting Wednesday, the US is reportedly preparing almost double the number of Haitian migrants sent back to Haiti from Texas.

The images caused general outrage on Monday, including a rebuke from White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who called the incident “horrific,” adding that she cannot “imagine what the situation is where that would be suitable. The apparent beating begins as more than 14,500 Haitians are encamped under a bridge in Del Rio as they wait to be processed by Border Patrol. The town recorded over 104 degrees on Monday. In answer to the rise in undocumented migrants from Haiti — struck this summer by the killing of Jovenel Moïse and a quake that killed over 2,000 — US authorities have started mass expulsion of Haitians and have sent over 600 Border Patrol officials to deal with the situation in the area. This weekend, around 3,300 people were eliminated from the makeshift camp in Del Rio and sent to detention centres or put on flights back to Haiti. The Biden government has used a Trump-era Centers for Disease Control policy called Title 42 to justify the deportation of migrants without allowing them to file asylum claims.