Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas revealed Wednesday that border officials seen in photos rounding up migrants on horseback to push them back across the Mexico border have been reassigned to desk duty while the incidents are being investigated.
Mayorkas, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, said the images, where Border Patrol agents on horseback appeared to be using their reins as whips, were 'correctly and necessarily were met with our nation's horror.'
'They do not reflect who we are as a country nor do they reflect who the United States Custom and Border Protection is,' Mayorkas said.
The secretary said that his agency was investigating the footage 'with tremendous speed and with tremendous force,' and would get to the bottom of the matter in 'days, not weeks.'
'We have ensured that individuals, during the pendency of the investigation, are not conducting law enforcement duties to interact with migrants.'
Some accused agents of whipping migrants, however, Border Patrol agents have defended the actions, saying that their colleagues were simply using their reins on their horses - not migrants.
Brandon Judd, a border agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council, slammed the Biden administration for condemning the images without understanding the situation.
'There are very few things that will boil my blood as bad as the White House directly coming out and condemning an action before they know what happened,' Judd said on the John Solomon Reports podcast.
'Jen Psaki came out yesterday, and she condemned these actions when in reality, it is a legitimate law enforcement action. This was meant to protect the illegal aliens.'
Judd claimed that officers swing around their reins to keep migrants from getting too close to the horse and getting trampled. 'The reins will be twirled to keep people away from the horses for their protection.'
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who sits on Homeland Security Committee, told DailyMail.com: 'Anyone who spent more than five seconds looking at those images can see that they were holding on to the reins of their horses. CBP agents do not carry whips or lassos.'
'Secretary Mayorkas and Vice President Harris need to address the serious issues causing this crisis,' she added.
The Fraternal Order of Police also tamped down accusations that agents had been whipping migrants.
'With basic knowledge and two brain cells, anyone knows those agents use split reins. They do use them as a whip, on their horses,' the agent said. 'This helps get a quicker response from the horse to move out when needed, especially when the horse may be hesitant with groups of people or other animals,' one Border Patrol agent told Fox News.
'Again it is clear that those 'in charge,' a term that is disgusting to use, have no clue about our operations and frankly operate by ignorance and unhinged emotions,' the agent said.
A Border Patrol officer is swinging what appears to be a lariat while trying to stop Haitian migrants from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge Sunday
The devastating images were captures as migrants were trying to return to their encampment from Mexico, where they were buying much-needed supplies
An agent is seen grabbing a migrant by the shirt in a photo taken near the border Sunday
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the footage 'horrible to watch' and said she 'can't imagine a context where that would be appropriate,' as other Democrats cried out against the treatment of Haitian migrants.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'inappropriate use of whips by Border Patrol officers' and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted 'images of inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants by Border Patrol - including the use of whips.'
Meanwhile, thousands of Haitian migrants are being freed into the US on a 'very, very large scale' rather than being flown out on deportation flights as the Biden administration promised, according to officials.
Two US officials with knowledge of the situation in Del Rio - where a peak of around 14,600 mostly Haitian migrants were camped out under a bridge at the weekend after crossing into the US from Mexico - said thousands have been released into the US with notices to appear at an immigration court in 60 days' time under the so-called 'catch and release' scheme.
Others have been sent on buses and planes to other parts of the US to be processed by Border Patrol agents there, they said.
The exact number released is unclear, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying that 8,600 migrants were still in Del Rio on Tuesday afternoon.
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