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
Mayorkas is the poster child why people hate politicians .
Libel and slander lawsuits should be filled immediately.
This makes it even more ironic that the Biden Administration was pushing a Department of “Disinformation” when they themselves are the biggest purveyors of disinformation.
A complicit Alleged News Media is essential to these never-ending abuses. This is not new but it has been amplified beyond anything before since Trump. Go look at Carl Bernstein’s own site “The CIA and the Media”. That’s from 1977 but it serves as a useful prehistory. Better yet search for Operation Mockingbird just don’t use Google.
Integrity surrounding his ilk is also know as honor among thieves.
Oh, yeah, we didn’t know the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) would lie, cheat and steal to takeover the country of those terrible, heinous, God-awful white people – they’re just bad and evil and rrrrrotten!
But we hyphenates are really, really nice and good – wouldn’t hurt a fly or give your kids fentanyl.
Are the hyphenates taking over our country…
Or are we giving it to them?
Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., St. Louis, Baltimore, Oakland, Detroit, Memphis, Cleveland, Newark, Atlanta, etc.
Why?
Naturalization is entirely the realm of Congress.
The Constitution does not mandate asylum.
The Founders passed the Naturalization Act of 1802, which Lincoln failed to enforce, imposing a 3 million-man foreign standing army on American soil.
The next Congress MUST end “fake” asylum and immigration, deport the deportable, which goes back to 1863.
“They are props, not people.” (JT)
Well said.
As with the Duke lacrosse and Smollett hoaxes, those collectivists feel justified in sacrificing innocent individuals, in the name of an evil ideology.
A culture is in trouble when its leaders couldn’t care less whether a claim is true or false.
…perhaps in even more trouble when its leaders couldn’t care less whether THEIR OWN claims are true or false.
We are leaning all sorts of corrupt actions by Bidens handlers.
We know Biden and his minions attacked the men and women doing their job on the border
We know Biden wanted Saudi Arabia to keep production up so gasoline prices would not rise. But…what is new info…Biden said, just until the midterm elections. We know Biden…Democrats, are actively working to double energy prices. Its the only way to sustain the Green Leap forward. It is the truth sitting in the middle of the room, no one talks about. That includes FOX
The simple fact, Democrats must lie to advance their agenda, and they must rule by executive order and Judicial decree. Democrats fail every time their agenda is openly debated on the battle field of ideas.
I don’t think there has been an honest debate about greenhouse gas accumulation, climate, and the long-term future of the planet.
The oil giants viewed it as a PR challenge, and did everything possible to derail honest deliberations. The greenies waged their own infowarfare counterattack, oversimplifying, demonizing, and narrowing coping options.
The “all of the above” policies of Bush and Trump were sensible given uncertainties about timeframes. But, this gave Dems permission to politicize energy policy.
Escapists reached the height of absurd conclusion in claiming that climate scientists went into their fields of study to gain personal power over the rest of us. Total defensive, childish, paranoid response.
Now, we’re trapped by politicization of a complex issue, involving physics, chemistry, and our obligations to posterity.
Or you could just deal with reality.
As humans prosper and their needs are met – they move into new needs – luxury needs – though these will eventually get accepted as necessities.
If Human CO2 is an actual problem – which is highly debatable – independent of the debate over whether the earth will get significantly warmer, is the debate over whether that is not a Good thing.
The core to all this nonsense is that there exists some perfect state of nature and that mans presence harms that, and that man must yeild.
Man IS nature. We inherently change nature – as does every single creature. We do more so than most. That is nearly always good for humans. It is separately good for some parts of nature and bad for others. As is everything that ever creature does.
There is no difference beyond scale.
Contra the left today there is more wildlife in the US then there was when the pilgrims landed. It has learned to live in proxmity to humans and thrive. As a child I lived in a wooded area. I never saw a hawk, or an owl, or a frog, or a fox, or deer or … Today I live in a nearby suburbs and I see all of these all the time. CO2 is plant food and it is abundantly clear that it is contributing to increases in agricultural outputs – as well as plant life generally exploding.
Over the years – since the time of Malthus we have been offered endless malthusian preductions of doom and gloom. None of them have EVER come true. There are actually many reasons for this. Even Mathus eventually was smart enough to reject the fallacy that now bears his name.
When someone tells you the world is going to hell and nothing short of radical change will stop it if we are lucky – they are either lying or just plain wrong. You can get fabulously wealthy betting against end of the world schemes.
Life will have plenty of ups and downs. But a steady trend to oblivion will not happen.
Mayorkas swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. By which he meant, of course, Joe Biden.
Remember when President Obama called out the police in Massachusetts after they mistook Obama’s Harvard University pal as suspicious? Obama had the “decency” to invite the cops and his pal to the WH for what was termed a “beer summit.” That ended the problem there and then. I don’t think Biden or Myorkas has the fundamental decency to even acknowledge their error much less seek forgiveness. Obama might have acted stupidly and without all the facts but he didn’t lie to cover it up, whereas Biden and Myorkas already have lied so now they need to add to that additional lies in hopes a handful of supporters will continue to back them. I think the incoming session of Congress should propose a resolution commending these Border Patrol agencts for their work and recognizing the unjust accusations brought against them by the POTUS and his DHS secretary.
Mayorkas, like many of the leaders Biden has in his administration have a tribal connection (altho Mayorkas’ is hidden in his other ethnicity). I’m not sure when it happens that people make this realization and history repeats itself. Looks like 110 is on the way. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
But its all because of white supremacy.
Biden himself said the other day that he is a Wampanoag. That’s why he goes to Nantucket for Thanksgiving every year
“If there is any measure of decency and responsibility left in Washington…”
Big IF. There isn’t.