CBP says discipline proposed for 'whipping' border agents
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, sounds off on 'city-slicker' Biden misunderstanding horsemanship, on 'The Story.'
The mounted border agents accused of "whipping" Haitian migrants on the bank of the Rio Grande last year did not employ whips or hit anyone, the Customs and Border Protection commissioner said Friday, while the door was left open for pursuing administrative infractions.
In response, one Texas lawmaker said President Biden – who continued to push the discredited claim the Haitian migrants were whipped – doesn't understand horsemanship or how to control his emotions.
Biden claimed horses "barely r[a]n over people being strapped," later pledging "those people will pay."
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Fox News on Friday that Biden and other "liberal city slickers" can't differentiate horse reins from whips.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas. (PAUL RATJE/AFP via Getty)
"Clearly, they don't know how to control a horse or control their mouths because they were just throwing out and word-vomiting things that were patently untrue," he said on "The Story," following clips of Biden, former White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki and other officials.
"What Joe Biden did… he's the chief executive. These men work for him. Instead of showing strong leadership, he has shown abject cowardice, and now he's doubling down on it -- and it disgusts me," Fallon said.
Other critics pointed out the "split reins" employed by the agents are indeed an established method that lends itself to one-handed riding, as opposed to "closed reins" that form a loop atop the horse.
On Friday, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said DHS investigators found "no evidence" anyone, including migrants, were struck by the reins "intentionally or otherwise."
Magnus also formally dismissed claims the mounted agents were carrying whips.
Instead, the findings alleged in-part that one agent used "denigrating and offensive" language toward a migrant's nationality.
Fallon said that instead of punishing federal law enforcement officers fighting a deluge at the border, their boss Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached.
"We need to impeach the Homeland Security [Secretary] because he has shown a gross dereliction of duty, and he's not doing the job that he was hired to do," he said.
"These agents did nothing wrong. In fact, these agents are heroic. If they just let them do their jobs and enforce the laws that are on the books, we wouldn't have this... border catastrophe."