An internal Customs and Border Protection investigation found that horse-mounted Border Patrol agents did not whip Haitian migrants trying to enter the United States last year near Del Rio, Texas.
However, the report on the investigation released Friday claimed that the agents exerted unnecessary force and behaved in an unsafe and unprofessional way while trying to stop the migrants, the CBP said in a Friday news release.
“The investigation also found that at least one Border Patrol Agent displayed dangerous behavior and used inappropriate and denigrating language,” the news release said.
According to the report’s findings, “several Agents used force or the threat of force to drive migrants back to the Rio Grande River, despite the fact that the migrants were well within the territorial boundary of the United States,” the news release stated.
“The investigation concluded that there is no evidence that any migrants were struck by reins and no evidence that any migrants were forced to return to Mexico or denied entry into the United States,” the CBP said.
The report blamed Texas state authorities for the said behavior by the border patrol agents, noting that the Horse Patrol Unit personnel “carried out an operation at the request of Texas Department of Public Safety that directly conflicted with U.S. Border Patrol operational objectives,” the news release stated.
“U.S. Border Patrol utilization of an unmoderated and unrecorded tactical radio frequency to manage the Del Rio incident contributed to command-and-control deficiencies,” the news release said.
Using such radio frequencies allowed “operational planning without management by a dispatch and impeded the Office of Professional Responsibility’s ability to investigate this matter,” the CBP said.
In response to the report’s findings, the CBP said that its leadership was taking steps to change its practices, training and operational methods and introduce more limits on using the horse patrol.
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The agency also said it initiated a Discipline Review Board to look into the behavior of four agents related to the incident. The news release said the investigation into the four agents’ activity is underway.
It is unclear who the four individuals were, since their names were redacted in the report out of privacy concerns.
One of the four individuals facing disciplinary review shouted denigrating comments at a migrant, insulting their national origin and gender, saying, “Hey! You use your women? This is why your country’s s***, you use your women for this,” the CBP said.
“The same Border Patrol Agent acted in an unsafe manner by forcing his horse to narrowly maneuver around a small child on a slanted concrete ramp,” the news release stated.
“The report showed there were failures to make good decisions at multiple levels of the organization,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a Friday briefing, according to The Daily Mail.
“Failures to maintain command and control over Horse Patrol Units, lack of appropriate policies and training, and the overall chaotic nature of the situation at Del Rio at the time contributed to the incident,” Magnus said.
The CBP’s investigation of the Del Rio crackdown came after news outlets released images in September of CBP agents on horses, swinging their reins as they forced migrants away from the U.S., the Texas Tribune reported.
The images drew outrage from migrant rights activists, Democrats and President Joe Biden, who accused agents of whipping the migrants, according to the Texas Tribune — a charge the report disproved.
“It’s horrible what you saw. To see people like they did, with horses, running them over, people being strapped, it’s outrageous,” Biden said at the time, according to the Tribune.
“Those people will pay,” Biden then said. “There is an investigation underway right now and there will be consequences.”
Republican House Rep. Chip Roy of Texas defended the border patrol agents. Roy said that the report revealed Biden-appointee Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “doesn’t deserve to lead” the DHS, the Daily Mail reported.
“Today we learned what we knew all along – the accused Border Patrol Agents in Del Rio did nothing wrong,” Roy told journalists, according to the newspaper.
“But this administration can’t miss a chance to destroy the morale of our overrun, hardworking Border Patrol for political gain, and it issued disciplinary action anyway to finish off one of the most despicable displays of leadership seen from any cabinet Secretary,” Roy said.
