A Border Patrol agent who was sidelined by the Biden administration for months on false charges of beating illegal immigrants at the southern border has now received a Border Patrol Achievement Award.
In September 2021, images circulated of border police officers on horseback trying to apprehend illegal immigrants from Haiti. The images were initially interpreted by some as depicting a police officer beating illegal immigrants.
The incident was denounced by President Joe Biden, who vowed to punish the officers responsible.
However, a subsequent research revealed that the horses' reins were the objects that, from the angle some of the images were taken, looked like whips. Despite this, the officers investigated were found to have used “unnecessary” force, with one officer maneuvering his horse “unsafely” and using “derogatory and inappropriate language”, police said. New York Post. Biden has never apologized to the officers.
The agent was one of many members of Customs and Border Police to receive an award, according to the Post.
The agent's name has never been released, but the Post said a source it did not name at the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the agent was among the winners.
“I find it hilarious and ridiculous that almost three years later, a Border Patrol agent who was accused of being racist and so vilified by this Biden administration is now winning an achievement award for his efforts to prevent smuggling before he receive a public apology.” the Post quoted its DHS source, which it did not name.
The agent was initially removed from the border and banned from working with illegal immigrants.
Instead, he was assigned to intelligence work to combat human smuggling. His work in that area led to his award, the DHS source said.
According to the DHS source, he was eventually cleared to return to work at the border and allowed to come into contact with illegal immigrants.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was among those who vilified the officers.
However, a 2022 report shows that the Heritage Foundation noted that even while officers were there convicted for what they did not do, the indignation against them had turned out to be wrong.
“We have received a number of messages that were sent to Mayorkas just before he went up and gave that very heated speech at the White House,” said Mike Howell, director of Heritage's Oversight Project.
Howell said the Heritage Foundation has filed a lawsuit to obtain the documents that tell what happened behind the scenes.
“One such communication we found was an email from his chief press officer, a woman named Marsha Espinosa. She had forwarded an article to Mayorkas. This article included a commentary from the photographer who was there, the only source who was not a border patrol agent or a Haitian illegal alien. The photographer said there was no whipping involved. 'I didn't see any whip marks,'” Howell said.
“Marsha Espinosa highlighted this part to Secretary Mayorkas, and Mayorkas went out and gave his press conference and did not use this information that would have exonerated the Border Patrol agents in light of this public outcry and these false accusations that were made against them. from the media, Democratic members of Congress and even the President of the United States,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal.
