Kamala tells DHS Secretary Mayorkas to order Border Patrol to treat Haitian migrants with 'dignity' and of her 'grave concerns about the mistreatment of Haitian migrants by agents on horses' – but offers no solution to the crisis

• Vice President Kamala Harris demanded in a Tuesday call that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in instruct agents to treat migrants with 'dignity, humanely and consistent with our laws and our values' 
• '[T]he Vice President raised her grave concerns about the mistreatment of Haitian migrants by border patrol agents on horses,' Harris' spokesperson Symone Sanders said in a Wednesday statement
• Added the spokes of 'the need of all CBP agents to treat people with dignity, humanely and consistent with our laws and our value' 
• Harris and Mayorkas are expected to speak again in the coming days regarding the border crisis 
• Mayorkas said Wednesday that the agents seen on horseback using whip on migrants have been assigned to administrative duties 
• 'They do not reflect who we are as a country nor do they reflect who the United States Custom and Border Protection is, Mayorkas said, testifying before the Homeland Security Committee
•  At the peak, there were around 14,600 migrants in Del Rio
• On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott said 8,600 remained in the town, with 1,083 flown back to Haiti since Sunday Seven deportation flights have been scheduled to take people back to Haiti on Wednesday 

By KATELYN CARALLE, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER  and MORGAN PHILLIPS, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM -22 September 2021

 Vice President Kamala Harris told DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday to instruct agents to treat migrants with 'dignity, humanely and consistent with our laws and our values'

Kamala Harris demanded that Border Patrol agents treat the thousands of mostly Haitian migrants gathered in Del Rio, Texas with 'dignity' after images emerged of officers on horseback using what appeared to be a whip to wrangle the illegal border hoppers.

'Yesterday, Vice President Harris spoke to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to receive an update about his trip to Del Rio,' Harris' chief spokesperson Symone Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday.

'During that call, the Vice President raised her grave concerns about the mistreatment of Haitian migrants by border patrol agents on horses, and the need of all CBP agents to treat people with dignity, humanely and consistent with our laws and our values.'

However the VP failed to come up with a solution to the migrant crisis and simply heaped blame on overstretched Border Patrol agents.

It comes after Brandon Judd, a border agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council, revealed that the mounted men had swung their reins to keep the migrants from being trampled by their horses and had not struck anyone.   

Sanders said that Mayorkas will update the vice president once the Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility concludes its probe.

According to the statement on the call, Harris did not discuss any ideas with Mayorkas on how best to address the crisis or how to make sure migrants are treated to her standards. 

 

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Mayorkas revealed Wednesday to the House Homeland Security Committee that border officials seen in photos rounding up migrants on horseback to push them back across the Mexico border have been reassigned to desk duty while the incidents are being investigated.

'Secretary Mayorkas also spoke with the Vice President about the efforts DHS has underway to address the humanitarian needs of people at our border in Del Rio through the provision of food, shelter, clothing, and medical care, as well as engagement with non-governmental and international organizations,' the statement concluded.

Sanders previewed that Mayorkas and Harris, who was put in charge of addressing 'root causes' of the migration crisis, will speak again in the coming days about the crisis at border Del Rio shares with Mexico.

Mayorkas, in his testimony before the Homeland Security Committee, said the images of Border Patrol agents on horseback appearing to be using their reins as whips, 'correctly and necessarily were met with our nation's horror.'

'They do not reflect who we are as a country nor do they reflect who the United States Custom and Border Protection is,' Mayorkas said. 

The secretary said that his agency was investigating the footage 'with tremendous speed and with tremendous force,' and would get to the bottom of the matter in 'days, not weeks.' 

'We have ensured that individuals, during the pendency of the investigation, are not conducting law enforcement duties to interact with migrants.' 

In a video on Wednesday, Mayorkas said the agents on horseback with the ropes were reassigned to administrative duties during the ongoing investigation into their actions. 

Kamala discusses footage of border officers whipping migrants

 

Mostly Haitian migrants wade across waist-deep water in the Rio Grande River on Wednesday leaving Del Rio, Texas for Mexico to avoid deportation by U.S. authorities back to Haiti

After crossing back into Mexico, migrants set up shelter at a camp in Ciudad Acuna

The migrants still left at the camps in Del Rio and Ciudad Acuna use the Rio Grande River to cross back and forth daily between the countries. DHS Secretary Mayorkas revealed Tuesday that around 5,000 migrants have already been removed from the encampment in Del Rio

 

Harris, put in charge of the border crisis earlier this year, spoke with Mayorkas on Tuesday regarding the growing crisis of Haitian migration. Here Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Homeland Security committee on Tuesday. He revealed Wednesday the agents seen on horseback using whip on migrants have been assigned to administrative duties

Border agents who whipped migrants 'assigned to administrative duties'

Harris and President Joe Biden on Tuesday finally addressed the growing crisis after days of silence as a makeshift encampment grew to 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants near an international bridge in Del Rio. On Sunday, deportation efforts ensued as Border Patrol agents rounded up migrants for removal flights to their homeland.

Harris, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, slammed the 'horrible' treatment of migrants and promised to provide more assistance to Haiti as hundreds of nationals have already been deported back to the island on removal flights.

'What I saw depicted about those individuals on horseback treating human beings the way they were, was horrible,' Harris said.

Biden said Tuesday that he will get the situation at the border 'under control', but did not specify any plans to mitigate the crisis.

'We will get it under control,' Biden said to reporters after speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday in New York City.

Some accused agents of whipping migrants, however, Border Patrol agents have defended the actions, saying that their colleagues were simply using their reins on their horses - not migrants.

Brandon Judd, a border agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council, slammed the Biden administration for condemning the images without understanding the situation. 

'There are very few things that will boil my blood as bad as the White House directly coming out and condemning an action before they know what happened,' Judd said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. 

'Jen Psaki came out yesterday, and she condemned these actions when in reality, it is a legitimate law enforcement action. This was meant to protect the illegal aliens.'

Judd claimed that officers swing around their reins to keep migrants from getting too close to the horse and getting trampled. 'The reins will be twirled to keep people away from the horses for their protection.' 

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who sits on Homeland Security Committee, told DailyMail.com: 'Anyone who spent more than five seconds looking at those images can see that they were holding on to the reins of their horses. CBP agents do not carry whips or lassos.' 

'Secretary Mayorkas and Vice President Harris need to address the serious issues causing this crisis,' she added. 

The Fraternal Order of Police also tamped down accusations that agents had been whipping migrants.  

'With basic knowledge and two brain cells, anyone knows those agents use split reins. They do use them as a whip, on their horses,' the agent said. 'This helps get a quicker response from the horse to move out when needed, especially when the horse may be hesitant with groups of people or other animals,' one Border Patrol agent told Fox News.

'Again it is clear that those 'in charge,' a term that is disgusting to use, have no clue about our operations and frankly operate by ignorance and unhinged emotions,' the agent said.

A Border Patrol officer is swinging what appears to be a lariat while trying to stop Haitian migrants from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge Sunday

The devastating images were captures as migrants were trying to return to their encampment from Mexico, where they were buying much-needed supplies

An agent is seen grabbing a migrant by the shirt in a photo taken near the border Sunday 

Officers on horseback push migrants to Mexican side of Rio Grande

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the footage 'horrible to watch' and said she 'can't imagine a context where that would be appropriate,' as other Democrats cried out against the treatment of Haitian migrants. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'inappropriate use of whips by Border Patrol officers' and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted 'images of inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants by Border Patrol - including the use of whips.'  

Meanwhile, thousands of Haitian migrants are being freed into the US on a 'very, very large scale' rather than being flown out on deportation flights as the Biden administration promised, according to officials.

Two US officials with knowledge of the situation in Del Rio - where a peak of around 14,600 mostly Haitian migrants were camped out under a bridge at the weekend after crossing into the US from Mexico - said thousands have been released into the US with notices to appear at an immigration court in 60 days' time under the so-called 'catch and release' scheme.  

Others have been sent on buses and planes to other parts of the US to be processed by Border Patrol agents there, they said. 

The exact number released is unclear, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying that 8,600 migrants were still in Del Rio on Tuesday afternoon. 

Deportation flights began on Sunday, and by Wednesday morning, over 1,000 migrants had been flown back to Haiti, a source with knowledge of the matter told DailyMail.com. 

Thousands of migrants pictured Wednesday taking shelter along the Del Rio International Bridge as they await to be processed by Border Patrol

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