Documents obtained by the Heritage Foundation following a Freedom of Information Act request are casting fresh doubts on last year’s whipping controversy concerning U.S. Border Patrol agents.
According to the newly released emails, Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was aware the popular narrative that Border Patrol agents whipped a group of Haitian migrants was false hours before he declared the incident “horrific” during a White House press conference. One of Mayorkas’s staffers sent him an email less than three hours before the press conference relaying the account of photographer Paul Ratje, who took the viral photos and said the salacious account of what happened was false.
“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” Ratje said in a quote provided to Mayorkas. “He [Border Patrol agent] was swinging it [reins] but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”
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