Border Patrol agents did not strike Del Rio migrants, report finds
Source: Washington Post
The Border Patrol agents on horseback who confronted Haitian families last September along the riverbanks in Del Rio, Tex., did not strike migrants with their reins but acted inappropriately and lacked proper guidance from supervisors, according to a long-anticipated internal report released Friday. Widely-circulated images of the incident along the Rio Grande showed U.S. agents swinging reins and screaming obscenities while briefly trying to block families bringing food to a sprawling, chaotic camp where 15,000 migrants arrived requesting entry to the United States.
Photos and video of the confrontation brought angry denunciations from President Biden and Democrats who said agents had whipped the migrants, likening the scene to the brutal imagery of American slavery. Biden said the migrants had been “strapped” and punishment would be meted out following a swift inquiry. After nearly nine months, the Office of Professional Responsibility at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which functions as the agency’s internal affairs division, determined in a 511-page report that no migrants were struck or denied their legal right to seek asylum in the United States.
But the report found agents behaved improperly and their decision to assist Texas state troopers’ attempting to block the migrants was not in line with Border Patrol objectives. The internal report found “failures at multiple levels of the agency, a lack of appropriate policies and training, and unprofessional and dangerous behavior by several individual agents,” CBP said in a statement. Federal prosecutors who reviewed the incident announced in March they would not bring criminal charges.
The internal report issued Friday did not make recommendations for punishment. Its findings have been sent to a CBP disciplinary review board, and a senior agency official will determine what sanctions, if any, will fall upon the agents, according to CBP officials who briefed reporters Friday. The agents were reassigned to administrative duties following the incident. Biden condemned the agents last year amid public outcry at scene of horses charging at families and small children running out of the way.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/08/report-border-agents-horseback-del-roi/
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