“Those people will pay,” Joe Biden promised, making the Border Patrol a bigger target for the president than the Taliban, apparently. Biden got confronted in his presser this morning over the border crisis, with one reporter pressing him to explain how his promises of humane treatment square with the images seen from Del Rio. Biden seized on the misinformation about alleged whippings by the Border Patrol’s mounted units, promising “consequences” for the agents in question:

"Of course I take responsibility, I'm president."

Pres. Joe Biden tells @rachelvscott the controversial handling of Haitian immigrants "sends the wrong message around the world," claiming "there will be consequences." https://t.co/kx01LNbaNT pic.twitter.com/o3kDDt5Giq

— ABC News (@ABC) September 24, 2021

Our pal Guy Benson notes the contrast between Biden’s assessment of American law enforcement and the “business”-minded people currently reinstating amputations in Afghanistan:

Biden evincing more anger at Border Patrol agents for something they didn’t do than I can recall him ever mustering about, say, the Taliban. He’s so indignant about CBP, based on a smear, that it almost sounded like he was talking about Ron DeSantis.

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 24, 2021

First, how appropriate is it for Biden to threaten these agents with “consequences” before any due process takes place, let alone some due diligence? All of this nonsense has been driven by photographs that don’t show anyone being whipped at all, a point that the photographer himself makes to anyone who will listen to him:

Yeah, so even the photographer who took the pics that Dems and the media are sharing of the Border Patrol agents on horseback says "he and his colleagues never saw agents whipping anyone."

"[I]t can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”https://t.co/PaoN2y4ide

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 24, 2021

The photographs, which were taken Sunday, appear to show agents on horses with a whip in hand. The photos caused outrage because from certain angles, it appears to show Border Patrol whipping migrants, but photographer Paul Ratje said he and his colleagues never saw agents whipping anyone.

“Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses,” Ratje said.

Ratje is a photographer based in Las Cruces and has been in Del Rio since Friday. He said took the photographs from the Mexican side.

“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” Ratje said. “He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”

Or it can be misconstrued deliberately for a president who’s desperate for a distraction. Biden’s using the Border Patrol agents as scapegoats to distract from the border crisis Biden and his administration created. It’s as simple as that, and Biden is getting cover for that distraction campaign by national media outlets who prefer narratives to truth. Biden’s need for a distraction intersects nicely with their preference of a narrative that immigration enforcement is by its nature racist and inhumane. Ergo, we have this absurd disgrace.

The union representing these Border Patrol agents will no doubt push back hard on this false narrative and presidential smear. Will those same national media outlets report this when the narrative collapses? I’ll believe it when I see it.