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Border Patrol officers on horseback who clashed with Haitian families last September along the riverbanks in Del Rio, Texas, did not hit the migrants with the reins, but used “unnecessary” force and they did not have the proper guidance of supervisors, according to a long-awaited internal report. released Friday.
Widespread images of the incident along the Rio Grande showed U.S. agents moving kingdoms and shouting obscenities as they tried to briefly block families carrying food to a large, chaotic camp where 15,000 migrants arrived demanding entry into the United States.
Photos and video of the confrontation sparked the furious condemnation of President Biden and Democrats, who said agents had flogged migrants, comparing the scene to the brutal imagery of American slavery. Biden said the migrants had been “corrected” and that the punishment would be imposed after a speedy investigation.
After nearly nine months, the U.S. Office of Professional Responsibility for Customs and Border Protection, which serves as the agency’s internal affairs division, determined in a 511-page report that no migrant was attacked or denied his legal right to seek asylum in the United States. . But the report found that officers used unnecessary force and their decision to help Texas state soldiers try to block migrants was in conflict with Border Patrol goals.
The internal report found “failures at various levels of the agency, lack of proper policies and training, and unprofessional and dangerous behavior on the part of several individual agents,” CBP said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors reviewing the incident announced in March that they would not file criminal charges. The internal report issued on Friday made no specific punishment recommendations.
Its findings have been sent to a CBP disciplinary review committee and a senior agency official will determine what sanctions, if any, will fall on officers, according to CBP officials who reported to reporters. Friday. Officers were reassigned to administrative duties after the incident.
Biden condemned officers last year amid public protest at the scene of the horses charging against families and young children fleeing the road.
“It’s horrible what you’ve seen. Seeing people like they did, with horses, running over them, people being tied up, it’s outrageous,” Biden said at the time. “These people will pay,” he said, referring to agents. “Right now there is an ongoing investigation and there will be consequences.”
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed those comments in an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” saying the scenes “evoked images of some of the worst moments in our history, where this kind of behavior has used against the indigenous peoples of our country. it has been used against African Americans during times of slavery. “
The video footage showed no one being beaten, but some officers acted in a manner that did not conform to official conduct. In a case captured by Al Jazeera and widely circulated on social media, an agent confronted a man whose family was carrying goods, shouting “Hey! That’s why your country shit! Use your women to that! “
The agent who used “contemptuous and vulgar” language also endangered the safety of a child with his horse, according to the report.
CBP commissioner Chris Magnus told reporters that Biden and Harris’ statements did not harm the outcome of the investigation. “I don’t think there has been any problem with outside influence,” said Magnus, who said he told investigators not to consider “everything they heard outside of their own work.”
The incident occurred during a time of significant tension for the Border Patrol. Over the course of a few weeks, thousands of migrants, mostly from Haiti, waded the Rio Grande, camping under a border bridge and building makeshift shelters from the outbreaks.
As the water in the camp ran out, migrants and vendors began crossing into Mexico for supplies, which the Border Patrol allowed.
Migrants arriving at the camp were issued colored paper tickets to indicate when they had arrived, and families crossing back and forth to Mexico to search for supplies were trying to show officers on horseback their tickets as they crossed. .
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), a fierce critic of Biden’s immigration policies, had ordered Department of Homeland Security officers to block a different crossing point along the river by parking their vehicles, a formation fitted which he called “steel wall.”
Border Patrol officials agreed with the decision, because the crossing point, through an overflow with dangerous currents, has been the site of drownings, officials said.
On September 19, as migrants bathed in the Rio Grande attempted to re-enter Mexico from a boat ramp area, Texas state soldiers attempted to block them. Border Patrol officers on horseback had been told to help state police, and when they asked a supervisor for guidance, they were told to help, according to the report.
This was not, in fact, what Border Patrol supervisors wanted, having determined that the agency could not adequately supply the camp and that migrants should be able to temporarily cross into Mexico for supplies, according to the report.
According to the report, horse patrol officers gave “inconsistent answers” to investigators ’questions about whether the aggressive way they moved the reins was in line with CBP training. They also gave uneven answers to questions about their preparation for events and crowd control operations, he said.
CBP officials who briefed reporters on the findings said many other Del Rio agents performed their duties admirably under extreme coercion.
“There is no justification for the actions of some of our staff, including unprofessional and deeply offensive conduct,” Magnus said. “Unfortunately, this incident overshadowed the incredible humanitarian and law enforcement efforts of our agents in Del Rio last September.”
The Del Rio crisis ended after the Biden administration began flying many of the migrants from the camp back to Haiti under the Title 42 public health policy linked to the government pandemic.
Some asylum seekers were released in the United States, but thousands more returned to Mexico to avoid rapid deportation to their devastated land.
Most migrants from the Del Rio camp have been sent to Haiti or returned to Mexico, DHS figures show
The September 19 confrontation on the banks of the river occurred what officials described as the most challenging day of the episode, when crowds were larger, supplies low and tensions high.
CBP’s disciplinary review board has proposed sanctions for four officers, according to the statement. Possible punishments for officers could range from unpaid suspensions to a less severe “reprimand letter” pointing out misconduct, according to former CBP officials familiar with the agency’s disciplinary process.
Deputy John Katko (R-New York), the main GOP member of the House National Security Committee, criticized the report’s findings and blamed Biden for the incident.
“This report is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the Biden administration to justify its initial haste to judge that these Border Patrol officers were guilty of misconduct,” Katko said in a statement.
“Thus, they undertook a mission to save face and set an example of these Border Patrol agents, who were only trying to manage the unsustainable humanitarian and security crisis that President Biden transmitted to them,” he said.
The Border Patrol union posted statements on Twitter on Friday denouncing the Biden administration for “rank hypocrisy” and calling the president, vice president and Sec. Mayors of “liars.”
The top union official did not respond to a request for comment, but is expected to challenge any proposed disciplinary action for officers.