Border Agents Accused Of Whipping Migrants Taken Off Law Enforcement Duties

On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that U.S. Border Patrol agents that had been falsely accused of using “whips” on Haitian illegal immigrants are no longer conducting law enforcement duties while the incident is investigated.

“Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who initially backed the agents before changing his stance amid outrage from the White House and left-wing Democrats, told a House Committee that the agents had been taken off the frontlines amid an investigation that he expected to take days, rather than weeks,” Fox News reported.

“We have ensured that the individuals during the pendency of the investigation are not conducting law enforcement duties to interact with migrants, but rather are conducting only administrative duties,” Mayorkas told the Committee.

“The facts will drive the actions that we take,” he said. “We ourselves will pull no punches and we need to conduct this investigation thoroughly, but very quickly. It will be completed in days, if not weeks.”

The announcement comes as U.S. Border Patrol is already being overwhelmed by the record-high levels of illegal immigration, which has passed 200,000 border encounters for the second consecutive month – the first time that number has been reached in 21 years.

In response to the illegal immigration surge, which began in March, a group of 26 governors sent a letter to President Biden urging him to take action to stop the flood of illegal immigrants across the southern border.

“The months-long surge in illegal crossings has instigated an international humanitarian crisis, spurred a spike in international criminal activity, and opened the floodgates to human traffickers and drug smugglers endangering public health and safety in our states,” the letter said, in part. “A crisis that began at our southern border now extends beyond to every state and requires immediate action before the situation worsens.”

However, reducing the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents able to perform law enforcement duties appears to be taking a step in the opposite direction.