The Biden White House blames border agents who are overwhelmed.
At last the Biden Administration is furious about tumult on the southern border. Not about the surge of migrants, mind you. The White House is using a single episode to scapegoat law enforcement and deflect criticism from its immigration failure.
The flare-up came Monday, when Reuters published footage of mounted Border Patrol agents facing down about 200 Haitian migrants near Del Rio, Texas. The article, and several that followed, mistook the officers’ reins for whips and claimed they’d been wielded against migrants. Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib denounced what she called “human rights abuses.”
It was a classic rush to judgment in the age of viral images, yet the Biden administration join the pile on against its own officers. By Tuesday Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas launched an investigation and took the officers off-duty. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the actions brutal and inappropriate and said President Biden was horrified. Perhaps investigators will conclude that the border agents used excessive force, but the administration looks fixed a foregone conclusion. “We are addressing this with tremendous speed and tremendous force,” Mr. Mayorkas said Wednesday. His promise that it will be completed in days, not weeks, should prompt skepticism about fairness. It’s not surprising that the administration seized on the moment, which offered suppose moral clarity amid an escalating border mess invented by Mr. Biden response.
