The Ugly History Behind Those Border Agents Chasing Haitian Migrants on Horseback

[Nevilledog]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/border-patrol-horseback-haitian-migrants-del-rio.html

As Haitian migrants carrying food, shoes, and other necessities began to wade into the waters of the Rio Grande earlier this month, some were greeted on American soil by Border Patrol agents mounted on horseback.

Photographs and videos captured the scene: officers chasing migrants back into the water, grabbing migrants by their shirts or in some cases hitting them with reins that were fashioned into makeshift whips. One video shows an agent telling a group of migrants, “This is why your country’s shit. Because you use your women for this”—a message that harkens back to a former president’s view of Haiti and other predominantly Black nations.

Images of the inhumane treatment at the border began to circulate heavily online earlier this week and evoked a plethora of emotion, with some (myself included) drawing parallels to how white men treated Black folks during enslavement and the Jim Crow era, not to mention current day interactions with law enforcement by Black Americans and Black immigrants. (A 2020 report from the Refugee And Immigrant Center details how Haitians were detained more than any other nationality last year and often pay higher bonds.)

In the days since the photos began to circulate on social media, the Biden administration has suspended horse patrols and launched an investigation into the agents’ conduct. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences,” said President Joe Biden on Friday. “It’s an embarrassment, but beyond an embarrassment, it is dangerous. It’s wrong, it sends the wrong message around the world, it sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are.”

*snip*

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. K&R