The day humanity lost at U.S.-México border in Border Patrol action against refugees

Wrongly or rightfully, the Biden administration will carry a black eye for the video and images of Border Patrol agents on horseback trying to keep Haitian immigrants from crossing the Río Grande.

Whether they used whips (it appeared they didn’t) doesn’t matter.

Whether the Haitians – some of the more than 10,000 who piled into the Del Río, Texas area – were misled into thinking they could apply for and get asylum doesn’t matter.

Whether the Biden administration is working, or not, with the government in Haiti to help the country recover from a massive earthquake and the assassination of its president (and in turn stem the outward flow if its people) doesn’t matter.

You can’t erase the visuals of something that is a complete opposite of American values. Of the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming arms. Of that “Shining City on a Hill.” Of a superpower nation that was built by immigrants from every corner of the globe.

To his credit, the president has accepted the blame.

“Of course I take responsibility as president,” Biden said on Friday, “but it was horrible, what you see, as you saw, to see people treated like they did, horses nearly running them over, people being strapped. It’s outrageous.”

Biden promised and investigation, “and there will be consequences.”

“It’s an embarrassment. It’s beyond an embarrassment. It’s dangerous. It’s wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world. It sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are,” said Biden.

Repeat: This is not who we are!

The image will be lined up alongside that of the 2-year-old Honduran girl crying next to a Border Patrol agent in 2018, and the 2019 photo of a Salvadoran man and his 2-year-old daughter who drowned in the Río Grande while attempting to make it to the United States.

These images are powerful, as they should be.

Social media magnifies the grim reality of the U.S.’s broken immigration system.

Just scroll through some comments.

“We were shaken and deeply disturbed by the video of U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback attacking asylum-seekers, including a child, in Texas yesterday.” (MomsRising)

“The sight of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents on horseback whipping Haitian immigrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-México border is appalling and a betrayal of our morals and laws. This brutality and violence towards refugees and immigrants is inhumane and should not be tolerant in this country.” (National Hispanic Media Coalition)

“What we have witnessed over the last few days is despicable, inhumane, and resembles a page out of the Trump playbook. Haitian refugees being met with whips by Border Patrol agents, packed into planes, and deported to Haiti is indicative of an immigration system rooted in white supremacy.” (Alianza Américas)

“The images of Border Patrol officers on horseback chasing and whipping Black Haitians looking for safety following a devastating earthquake and political crisis in Haiti clearly demonstrates the direct linkage between our modern policing institutions and slave patrols, and is a condemnation of the U.S. continued investment in the militarization of our southern border which has enabled such violence against primarily Black and Brown migrants and families,” (Border Network for Human Rights)

“Before we arrived at the point of watching actual unscripted scenes of federal Border Patrol Agents living out their 19th century slaveholder fetish, there was plenty of intelligence and news reports telling us about the growing mass of Black Haitian humanity trapped on the U.S.-Mexico border.” (B|E Note)

“I’m pissed. I’m unhappy. And I’m not just unhappy with the cowboys who were running down Haitians and using their reins to whip them. I’m unhappy with the administration. We are following the Trump policy,” said Rep. Maxine Waters of California.

“Human beings should never be treated that way,” said Vice President Harris, who called the video/images “horrific.”

Yes, they are horrific.

They are heartbreaking.

They are wrong.

They are un-American.

Plainly stated, there is no excuse for the behavior of the Border Patrol agents.

America is no place for bullies.

Juan Esparza Loera has been editor of Vida en el Valle since it first published in August 1990.

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 24 de septiembre de 2021, 0:20 p. m..