Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has finally crossed the line into infamy. No, it is not because of the record level of border crossings with millions pouring into the country. It is not the obvious lack of confidence of the rank and file officers in Mayorkas. It is not even past controversies like his Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board.”
No, it is because Mayorkas betrayed not just his agents but his oath to “well and faithfully discharge” the duties of his office in his handling of the “whipping scandal.” Some of us previously criticized Mayorkas for his failure to protect the agents falsely accused of whipping migrants along the Texas-Mexico border, even after the President promised that they would be punished before any investigation. Mayorkas joined in with the chorus of critics condemning the agents as an example of “systemic racism” in the government.
Now, according to newly acquired email records, it appears that Mayorkas knew hours before he made those statements that the story was false and that the photographer who took the photos expressly denied that any whipping occurred. Nevertheless, he supported President Biden’s and the media’s narrative and threw these agents under the proverbial bus.
What is interesting about this new evidence is that there is no good spin for a secretary known for almost planet-sized shifts. Either Mayorkas saw the email or he made little effort to discover the truth before trashing his own agents. The email went to various subordinates at the department and was based on public accounts. It would take willful blindness to avoid learning of the true story.
The level of duplicity in Mayorkas’ conduct is breathtaking. These mounted agents were ordered to the water’s edge to stop a huge influx of migrants from Haiti. Some of us contested the narrative early in the scandal, noting that the video refutes the false image created by the photos. The agents were clearly using the reins to direct their skittish horses, not whip migrants.
However, for many in politics and the media, it did not matter because it played into a racial-justice claim of the “whipping (of) Haitian asylum seekers.”
Democratic leaders joined the media and the mob. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) condemned “the inappropriate use of what appear to be whips by Border Patrol officers on horseback to intimidate migrants.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) decried “images of inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants by Border Patrol — including the use of whips.”
Vice President Kamala Harris emoted on “The View” about how the brutality “invoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behavior has been used against the Indigenous people of our country, it has been used against African Americans during times of slavery.” Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) described the incident as “worse than what we witnessed in slavery” and “white supremacist behavior.”
However, it was the statement of the President that was most disturbing: “It was horrible what — to see, as you saw — to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. It’s outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”
According to the new evidence acquired by the Heritage Foundation, the Administration was already aware that day that the whipping story was false. Shortly, after the President’s comments, on Sept. 24, 2021, Marsha Espinosa, assistant secretary of DHS public affairs, emailed Mayorkas and cc’d other DHS leadership, to make sure that they saw public stories refuting the claim.
Yet two and a half hours after receiving that email, Mayorkas went to the White House to support the President’s clearly false narrative. Indeed, the cabinet member who wanted a “Disinformation Governance Board” knowingly pushed disinformation impacting the lives and livelihoods of agents who serve under him.
Mayorkas declared how “Our nation saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are. We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism.”
When later asked about “the whipping… the whips, the horse whips” by a reporter, Mayorkas again said that “that is something that horrified us all.”
Mayorkas continued to support the narrative and how conduct of the agents “defies all of the values that we seek to instill in our people.” He then promised swift justice with an investigation that would take “days, not weeks.”
In a column, I wrote that the opposite would be true. Because the claim was false and the President would be contradicted, the agency would drag out the investigation and then charge the agents with some minor violations to cover for the President.
That is precisely what occurred under Mayorkas. The agents were quietly cleared of the whipping allegations but found in violation of department regulations. The President, Mayorkas, and the media were all covered. The only people punished were the innocent agents who spent a year under suspension and had their personal and professional reputations shredded by the President of the United States and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
However, the agents simply do not matter in Washington nor does the due process or basic fairness denied to them by their leaders. They are just some grunts on mounts to be used by the powerful as they see fit. We expect them to answer the call to the literal river’s edge, but they remain expendable to political expediencies.
The innocence of these agents was immaterial when they became useful cutouts for a narrative of systemic racism. In the end, they had to be punished for something.
President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas did not even have the decency to apologize to these agents and their families. They are props, not people.
I have stated that I do not agree that the utter failure of Mayorkas to secure the border is grounds for impeachment. He is clearly following a lax policy of President Biden but such bad policy choices are not matters for impeachment in my view.
If there is any measure of decency and responsibility left in Washington, Mayorkas would resign. Ironically, he did precisely what the agents were accused of doing. He and the President flogged these agents in public because they did not warrant any respect or consideration. To use his own words, that is something that should horrify us all.
This column also appeared in Fox.com
“Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has finally crossed the line into infamy.”
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The Dims are demons.
The female Mexican councilmember called an oppositional councilmember’s African son a “monkey.”
Kanye West disparages Jews.
But aren’t ONLY those pesky white people just terrible?
End the guilt; take back the reins.
Here is the Trump administration record on truthfulness:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/
Looking forward to Turley’s 30,573 columns getting outraged about those lies.
But Trump is held to a different standard.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but is Joe Biden the president right now? You concern yourself about what is happening today unless you are still upset about something in the Hoover Administration.
“Please correct me if I am wrong,..” “Whataboutisms” are all that remains for rebuttal in the face of an overwhelmingly failed administration. Those who voted for it, and continue to support it, refuse to accept accountability for same. It’s their feces soiled bed, but we’re all sleeping in it.
^you should,,,
Isn’t he a cute little troll. Pork, using WAPO as source. WAPO lies more than Mayorkas. ( NYT has about a dozen headlines chronicling Bidens “fits of fantasy”)
go away troll, adults are talking here.
There are plenty of things Nixon ,Kennedy, and Wilson did that upset me too, but just like Trump that is in the past and I am mire worried about today.
As Democrats use Gov, law enforcement, Big Tech, Censorship, Media, Big Banks, Business, Education, Healthcare, etc to ENFORCE the FASCISM!
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!
AMEN!
Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.
James Madison
Imagine if Jonathan demanded this level of accuracy from the Trump administration. We all remember Trump apologizing profusely whenever Trump made an allegation before the facts were in that did not turn out to be 100% accurate.
I remember when Trump apologized for weeks after claiming that Obama was not born in this country. I remember him apologizing for falsely claiming he had sent investigators to Hawaii and “you would not believe what they are finding.”
Imagine if Jonathan applied this level of scrutiny to the right wing media making claims about Hunter Biden that are putting all sorts of spins and worst possible interpretations on a bunch of emails that are leaked.
Actually, if you read his blog, he voted for Biden. I think that is the ultimate comment on how he felt about Trump. Now let’s get back to Herbert Hoover and his administration,,,
Every time a new poll is taken, public trust of government falls ever more precipitously.
And with good reason, the brand in control has no accountability, in part because they purposely scare people silent.
I swear Mayorkas looks like the twin brother of Bagdad Bob. He’s a guy who goes into the ring wearing the wrong size mouthpiece provided by a trainer that controls his every move. He’s been knocked out one to many times but he keeps doing it for the diminishing prize money. What a chump.
Wow. One of the strongest takedowns from Professor Turley that I have ever read. That it is entirely justified makes it even more profound. I would say “Have these people no shame?” But I knew that already. They have no shame, no ethics, no morality, no integrity. They deserve no respect and they are criminals in political power. They deserve no loyalty from the hardworking people in their departments and from the American people. Reportedly this sort of thinking permeates the defense dept. The fiasco in Afghanistan was the same except it caused many young lives of our faithful service men and women and nothing happened. And this administration is having trouble recruiting people to the armed forces. Imagine that. Leadership demands integrity. Without it you have nothing.
Excellent, GEB! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
““Have these people no shame?” But I knew that already. They have no shame, no ethics, no morality, no integrity.”
Correct. Mayorkas is a sociopath. Look at his eyes. Look at him. What do you see? A sociopath. Probably a psychopath too. The Biden admin is chock full of them.
I can’t decide if the saddest thing about your blog posts is that they are not surprising or that half the country is too incurious (unintelligent) to care.
Let’s consider the level of intelligence at the White House. Did they ever consider even when in possession of opposing evidence that they would be found out to be prevaricators of a lie. They always let us know about their undying compassion for the average joe but no compassion was shown to the border agents doing a tough job. A talking point that might keep the Hispanic and Black voter in their camp was more important than the lives of a few federal employees. Maybe a whipping in November will change their ways but alas I am convinced that it will be a lost cause.
Did they ever consider even when in possession of opposing evidence that they would be found out to be prevaricators of a lie.
They’ll just gas light their own voters. They have been lying to POC for decades. Making promises as their lives become worse at every generation. But they keep voting Dem. Democrat politicians learned long ago, their voting base is illiterate and/or uninformed. they just vote they way they are told.
Par for the course. It is a forgone conclusion that this is the state of mind of this bizarre administration. Their hubris is stunning!
They are deliberate in warping the truth, mixing half truths and lies inextricably in their coordinated narrative. Slap down any common sense dissent. Partial truth told as a truth is untruth. Sometimes they don’t even bother to hide their dishonesty.
Where are the reporters who work for legacy media? Where is the ACLU? Corrupt and absent.
Turley, listen to me. THIS IS THE POINT. Mayorkas’ behavior is not some aberration, it is the point of why he was nominated to that position! Do you understand finally that there is no good faith left in the Democratic Party? Do you see that these people are full of ill will and malice? These are corrupt totalitarians full of hate at this country and its people. We out here on the ground can see it, Tulsi Gabbard has seen it and showed its effects to us all yesterday – can you and those around you see it clearly now?
“Democratic.” LOL
Mayorkas is just following orders, so don’t impeach him? Turley, he may be fulfilling the regime’s bad policy decisions, but he has continuously lied to Congress and the American People about his anti-American actions. Allowing drugs, human trafficking, terrorist watch listers crossing the borders and his information commissariat are clearly criminal moves against this country. He needs to go.
Right on, Jonathan, right on!
For me, these people are who they are. There are bad and good, capable, with integrity and courage and without. I’m curious: if and how this story will be covered by our “news” media organizations. Just having to wonder, just asking this question – sucks!
We all know there is one set of rules for them and another set of rules for all of the rest of us. Can we stop beating yet another dead horse
Sec’y Mayorkas has embarrassed the office time and time again with either his blindness or deception of the crisis at the border. If he is honest with the American people and border agents he will resign; impeachment is too good for him and a waste of taxpayer money. If he does not resign, the border agents should sue him for lying and libel.
Tulsi Gabbard hit the nail on the head this Democratic Party are totally corrupt run by so called elites. I expect Mayorkas to resign with a hell of a lot of other administration officials before A Republican Congress tears into them and shred the little bit of reputations they have left! Anyone for Blinken’s Spotify choices, any songs about Armageddon.
McConnell, Graham, Macarthy and a bunch of other longtime RINOs will do their uptmost to PROTECT the criminal Democrats!
We need to go scorched earth and jail Everyone involved in the Russian Hoax….from Obama, Hillary, DNC, FBI, DOJ, etc
Also cut 50% of federal spending and move 75% of Fed Gov out of DC to the Heartland!
Also TAX all non-profits where anyone gets $100k+…..including colleges and hospitals, etc
End all FED aid to colleges….which are just Democrat indoctrination centers!
We need a FREE America!
Lying b—ards.
Immoral behavior from our “leaders”.
The corruption in Washington keeps getting worse.
November will be the acid test for the country.