Border Patrol agents facing Democratic attacks shifted to desk duty amid investigation
The agents were blocking migrants from attempting to illegally enter the United States
By Adam Shaw | Fox News
The Border Patrol agents who blocked Haitian migrants from entering the U.S. via the border at Del Rio, and who are now at the center of a Democratic controversy over false claims about their use of "whips" while on horseback, have been shifted to desk duty pending an investigation.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who initially backed the agents before changing his stance amid outrage from the White House and left-wing Democrats, told a House Committee that the agents had been taken off the frontlines amid an investigation that he expected to take days, rather than weeks.
"We have ensured that the individuals during the pendency of the investigation are not conducting law enforcement duties to interact with migrants, but rather are conducting only administrative duties," he said.
"The facts will drive the actions that we take," he said. "We ourselves will pull no punches and we need to conduct this investigation thoroughly, but very quickly. It will be completed in days, if not weeks."
The controversy began with the emergence of images showing agents on horseback blocking Haitian migrants from entering the U.S. in a Del Rio riverine, and in one case grabbing onto a migrant’s shirt.
However, some media outlets and Democratic lawmakers misidentified the agents’ split reins, which they use to control the horse, as "whips" and accused the agents of whipping the migrants. Some outlets later qualified their description as "whip-like cords" but many Democrats forged ahead with the claim.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-border-patrol-agents-democratic-attacks-desk-duty
