Four Border Patrol agents to face discipline over horseback controversy

Four Border Patrol agents will face disciplinary action following an incident last year in Del Rio, Texas, in which agents on horseback corralled Haitian migrants seeking to cross into the U.S.

A 511-page report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Professional Responsibility found “failures at multiple levels of the agency, a lack of appropriate policies and training, and unprofessional and dangerous behavior by several individual agents,” according to a CBP statement.

Images of the September incident went viral, drawing attention to the plight of some 15,000 Haitian migrants who had camped under a bridge near the U.S.-Mexico border. The images showed officers chasing some migrants and raising questions about whether the agents whipped any migrants with the horses’ reins.

The report determined that agents did not strike “intentionally or otherwise, any migrant with their reins.”

But while the report dismissed those allegations, it detailed other disturbing behavior by agents on horseback, including grabbing one migrant by their shirt and spinning them around and in another case making disparaging remarks about Haiti.

“One BPA [Border Patrol agent] acted in an unprofessional manner by yelling comments related to a migrant’s national origin and sex, stating in part, ‘Hey! You use your women? This is why your country’s shit, you use your women for this,’” the report found. 

“The same BPA acted in an unsafe manner by pursuing the individual he had yelled at along the river’s edge forcing his horse to narrowly maneuver around a small child on a slanted concrete ramp.”

In a press conference with reporters, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said the officers are still facing proposed disciplinary action and are afforded the chance to reply and said he would not be able to release the details until they are finalized. 

“It’s clear from the investigation that decisions made by some of the agency’s leadership and the lack of appropriate policies and training all contributed to the incident. But there is no justification for the actions of some of our personnel, including unprofessional and deeply offensive conduct,” Magnus said.

The report comes roughly nine months after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pledged the investigation would take “days, not weeks.”

One alarming detail in the report showcased that Border Patrol were following orders from the Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS).

“As a result of a lack of command, control, and communications, [Horse Patrol Unit] personnel carried out an operation at the request of TXDPS which directly contravened [U.S. Border Patrol] operational objectives and resulted in the unnecessary use of force against migrants who were attempting to reenter the United States with food,” the report found.

Magnus said officers have been instructed to take commands only from their own supervising officers.

“It should be clear that while we work with various state officials, and state organizations like Texas DPS our personnel take their direction from our leadership,” he said. 

While Texas has blurred the lines between state and federal authority on the border, the report’s revelation that federal officers carried out orders concocted by Texas officials stands out amid consistent wrangling over command and control at the border.

Control over borders and migration falls squarely in the federal realm, but Texas has on occasion either used its own law enforcement units to support federal border officials or to directly enforce its interpretation of immigration law.

For instance, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday issued an executive order authorizing the Texas National Guard and TXDPS to apprehend immigrants and return them to the border in response to the Biden administration’s efforts to end Trump-era border management policies.

“While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” said Abbott in a statement.

The move drew quick condemnation from immigrant advocates and caused friction in the U.S.-Mexico relations days before Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is due to visit Biden in Washington.

López Obrador condemned Abbott’s plan, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday Abbott “has a track record of causing chaos and confusion at the border.”

Still, the Del Rio incident marked a turning point for the Biden administration’s border policy, highlighting a measure of chaos and confusion in federal border and immigration policy.

Among the administration’s opponents, the incident sparked cries of chaos at the border that have consistently grown and continue to dog the Biden White House and energize the far right.

A large swath of Biden’s supporters, particularly in the immigrant advocacy community, saw a mass violation of human rights that essentially went unpunished and unleashed the mass repatriation of Haitians.

Since Del Rio, the Biden administration has operated 235 flights to Haiti, repatriating nearly 25,000 Haitians to a country in deep economic, political and humanitarian crisis.

A majority of the repatriated Haitians have been expelled under Title 42, a Trump-era policy under which border officials skirted federal law by summarily kicking out foreign nationals without screening for asylum claims.

The advocates’ anger was compounded by the fact that just a month earlier, the Biden administration expanded protections for Haitians under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that allows nationals of a foreign country to live and work in the United States if their home country is undergoing a natural or man-made disaster.

While the designation doubled the number of Haitians protected in the United States, the simultaneous recognition of an unbearable crisis in Haiti and heavy-handed border and immigration enforcement against Haitians rubbed many advocates and Biden allies the wrong way.

Still, Friday’s report quelled some criticism of the administration’s approach. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Raúl Ruiz (D-Calif.) said Friday he appreciates the “transparency and thoroughness of the investigation and the report.”

“The internal investigations into Border Patrol agents on horseback who confronted Haitian families last September found that organizational failures and improper and dangerous behavior by individual U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents threatened the lives of migrants, including children,” said Ruiz in a statement.

“Following through with a systemic approach to correct organizational failures and lack of training, and the implementation of disciplinary measures, will help prevent future unprofessional, inhumane behavior and protect the integrity, respect and professionalism of CBP and the many CBP officers who behave themselves humanely and with the utmost professionalism,” he added.

— Updated at 4:08 p.m.