Democrats frequently claim they support secure borders and comprehensive immigration reform, but their actions both large and small reveal their true goal of open borders and an endless stream of migrants that we can do nothing to slow or stop.
Perhaps nothing encapsulates the progressive position on the border than the Biden Administration’s ongoing efforts to punish Border Patrol agents falsely accused of whipping Haitian migrants last year. Though agents aren’t actually equipped with whips and no one was hurt, progressives seized on misleading photographs to claim the long-time scourge of slavery was alive and well in the 21st century. USA Today reported almost immediately that historians believed the incident recalled “slavery-era whippings.” The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services took to Twitter to voice the same ludicrous concern, “These images are no different from when KKK members & slave patrollers would round up enslaved Black Americans during reconstruction.” MSNBC host Joy Ann-Reid described it as “beyond repulsive,” asking, “Are these images from 2021 or 1851?” Democrat Representative and member of the Progressive “Squad” Jamaal Bowman wrote, “We are still whipping black bodies in 2021. Shame on us as a nation. For our inhumanity.” Representative Cori Bush, a fellow Squad member, said she was “outraged” and another, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, added that “our immigration system is designed for cruelty towards and dehumanization of immigrants.”
The Biden Administration quickly responded by endorsing these false claims and promising retribution against the border agents. Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on The View, insisting, “I’ve been very clear about the images that you and I both saw of those law enforcement officials on horses — I was outraged by it, it was horrible, and deeply troubling.” She continued, “There’s been now an investigation that is being conducted, which I fully support, and there needs to be consequence and accountability.” She was also sure to note that it “evoked 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, has been used against African Americans during times of slavery.” President Biden himself felt the need to weigh in as well. “Of course I take responsibility,” he said. “I’m president, but it was horrible what you saw.” “To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped — it’s outrageous,” he continued. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences,” adding that it was “an embarrassment, but beyond an embarrassment, it’s dangerous.”
Two months later, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General refused to investigate the incident At the time, USA Today reported that, “a person familiar with the matter said an inquiry would have been launched if the conduct involved allegations of possible criminal activity. No such allegations were included when the case was referred to the inspector general for consideration, said the person, who is not authorized to comment publicly.” The Biden Administration wasn’t satisfied, however, and has been conducting a separate investigation through the Office of Professional Responsibility ever since. The agents involved have been placed on limited duty during the investigation, which has now been ongoing for nine months despite the claims of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who said it would be completed within days shortly after the incident. One can’t help but wonder what could possibly take this long, given the scene lasted a few minutes, resulted in no injuries, and was well documented, but last week, Fox News reported that the investigation is finally winding down and the Department is planning to punish “multiple” agents. As they put it, “A federal source told Fox News an announcement on the matter is expected within the coming days. The source said that DHS will be putting forth proposals to discipline the agents who will have a chance to respond to the charges. The charges, Fox News is told, are ‘administrative violations,’ and do not amount to criminal conduct – of which the agents were previously cleared.”
In other words, DHS has been working for months to come up with some plan to punish and persecute people innocent of their claimed offense, a witch hunt if ever there was one. Rarely does a minor, mostly false episode reveal so much. First, it is beyond clear that the progressive vision for the border is completely open, one where the United States can do absolutely nothing to stop people from crossing. In this case, the agents on horseback were visible to the migrants on the other side of the border, and were obviously stationed there to deter them from crossing in the first place. Though the migrants proceeded anyway in full, open defiance of the Border Patrol and United States law, we’re supposed to just allow them to march on in and bring as many of their friends and family as they like. Nor do they bear any responsibility whatsoever for the incident. They have no agency, accountability, or common sense, can literally throw themselves at a horse and somehow it becomes the horse’s fault. Second, the truth is completely irrelevant to the progressive political agenda. They will smear anyone at any time, and make outrageous claims completely at odds with the facts if it suits them at the moment. Border agents aren’t armed with whips, have never been armed with whips in the modern era, and were clearly using the reins as a precaution to prevent anyone from getting trampled. In other words, what they were actually doing was protecting the migrants from the obvious danger of a run in with a horse. If progressives thought a fake-news whipping incident was a catastrophe reminiscent of slavery, how do you think they would have reacted to a migrant being trampled?
Ultimately, this is the abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement ideology applied to a specific incident. The border agents are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The only thing they are permitted to do is allow the migrants to cross freely, wherever and whenever they want, and perhaps offer them a hot meal and lodging for their troubles, maybe a free cell phone and flight to the destination of their choice. In progressive minds, the Border Patrol should serve as caretakers of the migrants, not officials charged with enforcing immigration law and preventing people from crossing the border illegally. The aftermath provides another example: Immediately after the incident, DHS banned the use of horses in the region without bothering to explain how agents are supposed to traverse incredibly difficult terrain with nothing resembling roads. They don’t use horses for the fun of it or because they are good for trampling poor migrants. They use them because it’s the only means to rapidly and safely cross rocky, scrub-filled portions of the desert. Cars and trucks can’t get there, neither can ATVs. This means two things: Migrants can now cross entirely at will, and more of them will surely die in the process because the horses were used for both enforcement and search and rescue. If someone is injured in the journey or succumbs to the elements, progressives would rather they lay there and die instead of agents using horses to rescue them and provide medical treatment.
We know how little they care based on the testimony of Secretary Mayorkas himself, who couldn’t even be bothered to be aware of the number of migrant deaths. Congressman Chip Roy confronted the Secretary at a hearing in April, holding up a photograph. “Mr. Secretary, do you know what this is? This is a mobile morgue, a body trailer needed by counties in south Texas overwhelmed by dead migrants,” he said. “That particular trailer is filled with these bodies. Twenty-seven bodies that were stored in this mobile morgue in south Texas with dead bodies of migrants.” Last year, Texas Senator Ted Cruz asked him basic questions like how many migrants successfully evaded Border Patrol. “I will have to circle back with that information,” Secretary Mayorkas claimed. “So that wasn’t a fact that you thought was relevant?” “Oh, it is absolutely relevant. I understand why the question is posed. It’s a fact of great…” “But you’re not prepared to answer it.,” the Senator interjected. “How about this, how many deaths? How many illegal aliens have died crossing illegally into the United States under Joe Biden’s administration?” “I don’t have that data,” the Secretary responded, nor did he have any idea how many unaccompanied minors were in US custody, denying that this well documented category exists in the first place, “Respectfully, I’m not familiar with the term cages and to what you’re referring.”
It’s not difficult to conclude that this is all in service of the progressive goal to flood the country with illegal immigrants, perhaps the one thing President Biden has succeeded at, given records for border crossings are broken almost every single month. May saw a stunning 239,416 encounters between migrants and the Border Patrol, edging out April’s 234,088, which edged out March’s 222,144. Aside from some seasonal variability, the numbers just keep increasing to levels never before seen and no one knows how high they can go. All told, some 3.5 million migrants have flooded the country since President Biden took office, and about a quarter of them have been encountered multiple times, meaning they keep trying to come in after they’ve been expelled. Incredibly, the Administration’s plan is simply to encourage more to do precisely that. They are fighting in court to rescind the Title 42 provisions implemented during the pandemic, which currently allow the border patrol to send back some 42% in May alone. They want this while they seek to punish and persecute the men and women working at the border to stem the tide. That alone tells you all you need to know, whatever they might claim in public.
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