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USA, 2021
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The White House on Monday criticized the use of horse reins to threaten Haitian migrants after images circulated of a U.S. border guard on horseback charging at migrants near a riverside camp in Texas.
www.reuters.com
Stop putting out the false narrative.
The photographer behind viral images of Border Patrol agents on horseback with Haitian migrants said the pictures that caused liberal outrage are being misconstrued and he never saw anyone get whipped.
www.foxnews.com
The photographer behind viral images of
Border Patrol agents on horseback with Haitian migrants said the pictures that caused liberal outrage are being misconstrued and he never saw anyone get whipped.
Paul Ratje's photos were framed by some Democrats and liberal media members as showing agents using "whips" to corral Haitians trying to cross the border. But critics pushed back and said they were clearly holding reins as they confronted them, and Ratje backed them up.
"I’ve never seen them whip anyone," Ratje
told KTSM, an NBC affiliate in El Paso, Texas. "He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture."
The New Mexico-based photographer has been in Del Rio, Texas, since last week and said he took the pictures from the Mexican side of the border.
MEDIA'S ‘FACT-CHECKERS’ AVOID FALSE NARRATIVE BORDER PATROL AGENTS ‘WHIPPED’ HAITIAN MIGRANTS
"Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses," Ratje said.
Although it appeared clear to many that the horseback riders were using reins, and no video or pictures ever showed anyone being whipped, the narrative quickly spread among progressives and even reached the White House, which condemned the agents and ordered an investigation. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.,
flatly accused the agents of whipping migrants and said the situation was "worse that what we witnessed in slavery."
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pushed from the left on the issue Thursday by some reporters, such as liberal PBS journalist Yamiche Alcindor, who quoted critics who say the images "look like slavery."
BIDEN WARNS MOUNTED BORDER PATROL AGGENTS CHARGING MIGRANTS IN DEL RIO SECTOR: ‘THOSE PEOPLE WILL PAY’
"These are images that are traumatizing Haitian Americans that he promised to treat respectfully and with humanity. Why isn't the president telling people himself these images that people say look like slavery are wrong?" Alcindor asked.
Despite pushback throughout the week, the narrative appears ensconced on the left that the agents acted improperly.