White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to back down on the false claim that the border patrol was whipping illegal invaders trying to cross the U.S. border. She called the photos of the illegals being pushed back by border patrol “horrific photos” when in reality, there was nothing violent happening.
After proof via photos and videos showing nothing nefarious happened during the encounter between border patrol on horseback and illegal aliens, the White House continues to push the false narrative.
The leftist media, including one race-baiting PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor, pushed the narrative that US Border agents were “whipping” Haitian illegal immigrants during a White House press briefing, and Jen Psaki ran with it. The media and politicians are counting on Americans to be ignorant of the fact that the item in question seen in photos is NOT a whip but the reins. The reins are used to direct a horse and are long straps usually made of leather and attached to a bridle.
The lie spread like wildfire because the left took it and ran with it. Biden and Harris also pushed the lie as a way to deflect from the literal invasion at our southern border that they caused.
Now, the Las Cruces photographer who took controversial photos at the Texas border says that the images have been dramatically misinterpreted.
According to the Daily Mail – Despite hysterical accusations that mounted Border Patrol agents chased migrants with whips, photographer Paul Ratje says that he saw nothing of the sort at the border in Del Rio on Sunday.
‘I’ve never seen them whip anyone,’ Ratje told KTSM-TV. The still images actually depict the mounted agents swinging the long reins of their horses, not holding whips.
‘He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture,’ said Ratje, who shot the photos from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande river.
The photos were taken as thousands of Haitian migrants poured across the border illegally at Del Rio, with up to 15,000 crammed into a squalid camp there at the peak of the crisis.
‘Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses,’ Ratje explained of his photos.
Ratje has been in Del Rio since Friday. His photos drew international criticism for the Border Patrol after they were distributed worldwide by AFP.
Critics said the images from were reminiscent of both cowboys attempting to herd livestock and times in history when horse-mounted police, prison guards or slave owners used whips against black people.
The incident prompted widespread outrage and is under investigation. The agents have been assigned to administrative duties and the Department of Homeland Security said it has suspended the use of horses in Del Rio.
President Joe Biden on Friday reacted to the photos, saying it was ‘horrible’ to see the way agents used horses block people from crossing the Rio Grande and he promised that ‘people will pay’ as a result.
He claimed the photos showed migrants being ‘strapped’, a term for flogging someone with a strip of leather.
Al Sharpton seized the opportunity to turn the misleading photos into an opportunity for him to fundraise for his NAN organization. He mobilized a mob of fellow race-hustlers and headed to Del Rio to condemn the actions of the border agents. Unfortunately for Al, things didn’t go so well when hecklers shouted him down, telling him they weren’t welcoming racists to Del Rio.
