Top Border Official Blasts Psaki - Says Admin Approved 'Twirling' Reins To Keep Migrants Away From Horses
A top Border Patrol official slammed the Biden administration over their kneejerk reaction to reports that border patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas have been "whipping" Haitian migrants who materialized roughly 1,800 miles from home across the Gulf of Mexico, where they've gathered in large numbers at the southern US border in recent days.
In two separate interviews, Border Patrol agent and head of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd singled out White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for condemning the agents' conduct as "horrible to watch," and something "they should never be able to do again," accusing Psaki of "perpetuating the narrative that police are bad."
"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 told Just the News. "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 explained agents are trained for crowd control by the Homeland Security Department to "twirl the reins" if humans start approaching their horses to keep them away from getting injured, and the reins are never used to strike or harm people.
"We have to keep those individuals away from the horses," he explained. "If they get too close to the horses, the horses could step on them and they could break bones. They could kick them. They can get kicked in the head. It could cause death. -JTN
"Nobody was hit by those reins; they are not whips. The reins are used to control the horses. And so the reins will be twirled to keep people away from the horses for their protection," Judd added, comparing Psaki's comments and corresponding coverage by the MSM to deceptive tactics used by liberal activists who want to defund the police.
"Of course, this is exactly how the defund police movement works," said Judd. "You take photos, you take a 15-second video of something that happened over a period of 10 minutes. And you take those very small clips, and you blow them up and say, 'Well, look what's happening.' When in reality it was a law enforcement movement that agents are trained to use the reins to keep people away, not hit people with those reins."
According to Judd, twirling of the reigns is standard practice.
"This is a training module that they set up, that they go through and they approve, and even this administration, every single administration, when they come in, they will look at all training that is being given, and they will decide whether the way they want to continue on with training," he said, adding "And this administration even decided that they would continue on with the training of using the reins, to keep people away from the horses for their own protection."
Judd told the Epoch Times that the White House is perpetuating a false narrative.
Misinformation
Judd said agents on horseback in the area have not been rounding up Haitian refugees with whips after they were accused of doing so by multiple media outlets and officials.
On Monday, Sawyer Hackett, executive director of People First Future, a political action committee set up by Democrat Julián Castro, went viral on Twitter when he shared photos of border patrol agents on horseback as they held their “whips” while Haitian refugees stood near them on foot.
Hackett wrote on Twitter, “This is unfathomable cruelty towards people fleeing disaster and political ruin. The administration must stop this.”
He also shared video footage showing border agents on horseback attempting to prevent migrants from wading back and forth across a river.
The post was quickly shared over 27,000 times, including by members of Congress Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Senator Jeff Merkley.
A report from the El Paso Times regarding the situation in Del Rio also went viral. An exert from it claims a border agent “swung his whip menacingly” at Haitian men who were trying to cross the river again after buying food and water in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.
"That’s your ‘defund the police’ movement right there," Judd said of the video. "They only show a short segment of a video. The horse patrol agents under the administration are trained to ensure the safety of the migrants, to keep them away from the horses, because the horses can harm people—they can inadvertently step on them, they can rear up, they can kick them.
And so agents have to keep the migrants away from the horses for their own protection. And so they will use the reins, to twirl the reins, so that they will stay away from the horses. But they do not use those reins to lash out, to try to strike people. Those agents did not use those reins in any way, shape, or form to try to strike anybody."
More via The Epoch Times:
Judd added that the horses are also used as a “deterrent technique” to prevent illegal immigrants from coming into the United States.
The claims of whipping soon reached the White House, with press secretary Jen Psaki telling reporters during a briefing Monday, that she had seen some of the footage but didn’t yet have all the context.
“I can’t imagine what context would make that appropriate,” Psaki said. “But I don’t have additional details.”
When asked if the agents who were accused of whipping the Haitian immigrants should be fired, Psaki responded, “And, certainly—I don’t have additional context. I don’t think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate.”
Judd says Psaki ‘s comments were “horrific” and only serve to perpetuate the narrative that law enforcement is bad. “And that just feeds into the larger, very liberal, narrative of defund the police,” he said.
The head of the National Border Patrol Council said his agents also feel abandoned by the administration, noting that the Haitian camp has turned into a “warzone refugee camp” and pointing out a key difference between former President Donald Trump’s administration and the current Biden administration.
“They [border patrol agents] have been abandoned by the administration. I mean, I get that all the time. My agents are constantly reaching out to me asking, ‘Why isn’t this administration standing up and doing something to secure the border?’ ‘Why is this administration allowing cartels to have free rein of the border?’ ‘Why is this administration [doing nothing] when they said that they were going to have humane immigration practices? I don’t know,” Judd said.
“You tell me, does this look like it’s humane right here?” he asked standing in front of the Haitian camp.
“This looks like a warzone refugee camp. That’s what this looks like. And if anybody says that this is humane, I would love for them to come and explain to me how this, right here, is humane. But this is the Biden administration. This never happened with the Trump administration.” Tyler Durden Wed, 09/22/2021 - 12:25
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