Even when President Joe Biden tries to get the situation under control at the border, things still seem to spiral out of hand.
Last week, after letting a camp of mostly Haitian migrants build up at the border in Del Rio, Texas, the Biden administration ordered the prompt removal of the illegal immigrants back to their country of origin. According to The Associated Press, there would be seven expulsion flights planned daily beginning Wednesday.
Three flights Sunday carried over 320 migrants back to their country of origin after they crossed the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.
Roughly 3,300 migrants were moved from the Del Rio camp between Friday until Sunday, according to the AP, which cited Border Patrol Chief Raul L. Ortiz. Of the 12,600 migrants that remained, Border Patrol hoped to have 3,000 of them removed in another day and the encampment gone within one week.
This was at least a sign that the Biden administration was trying to get the situation under control, even if the migrant camp in Del Rio was more of a symptom of a larger problem than the problem itself. However, even in the decision to remove the migrants from the camp and return them to Haiti, there was another sign of the administration’s inability to handle the crisis: A transport bus was overtaken by illegal immigrants about to be deported.
According to the Washington Examiner, a bus bound for San Antonio, Texas, from the Del Rio International Bridge was hijacked by migrants on Monday afternoon during the two-and-a-half hour trip on the contracted private vehicle. Several migrants then escaped from the bus, although they were later taken back into custody
“They did break out of the bus, and they did escape,” a senior law enforcement official told the Examiner.
Brownsville, Texas-based KVEO-TV, reported Monday evening that “several non-citizens attempted to flee the contracted bus.”
All individuals who escaped were back in custody as of 7:15 p.m. No one was hurt.
SOURCES: Haitian migrants revolt while in custody and seize control of privately contracted bus, escape federal custody https://t.co/uDr5hWZidg
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) September 21, 2021
The bus was under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, WVEO reported.
“The safety of our personnel and the people in our custody is of utmost priority, the … noncitizens are all back in our custody,” an ICE representative told the outlet.
This is probably something the administration should be defending itself over. Instead, it’s focused on investigating a wildly false accusation that Border Patrol agents on horseback have been using whips on Haitian migrants.
Border patrol is mounted on horseback rounding up Haitian refugees with whips.
This is unfathomable cruelty towards people fleeing disaster and political ruin. The administration must stop this. pic.twitter.com/BSjT91NSj0
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) September 20, 2021
Border Agents Furious After What Kamala Harris Said About Them
This is Sawyer Hackett, executive director of former Obama-era Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro’s political action committee People Future First.
Vice News also ran a story titled “US Border Agents Are Removing Haitian Migrants Using Horses and Whips.”
Some outlets ran a version of the story in which the agents were using lassos, instead. None of this was true, naturally; the pictures show horse reins flying, not whips cracking.
But never mind that. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the images “obviously horrific,” according to a White House transcript of Tuesday’s news briefing.
WH Secretary Jen Psaki on footage appearing to show border patrol agents using whips against Haitian migrants coming into the United States from Mexico: “I have seen some of the footage. I don’t have the full context. I can’t imagine what context would make that appropriate.” pic.twitter.com/83O2bjZCyp
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 20, 2021
“I have seen some of the footage. I don’t have the full context,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a media briefing on Monday.
“I can’t imagine what context would make that appropriate, but I don’t have additional details … I don’t think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate.”
Except the footage Psaki is so worried about is being grossly misinterpreted and the country is having a national debate over something that never happened. Vice President Kamala Harris called the images “horrible” and wants a “thorough investigation,” as the Daily Caller reported.
Meanwhile, Haitian migrants hijacking an ICE-contracted bus passes by with almost no notice whatsoever. Oh, our media seem to be saying, they commandeered the transport that was taking them to the airport for deportation? Well, gosh — all’s well that ends well, right? Let’s talk about that Border Patrol agent again. Now, if you look at those reins in just the right light, it could be a lasso, right?
According to a New York Post report, over 6,000 Haitians had been removed from the encampment between Sunday and Tuesday. Given there were nearly 15,000 migrants at the camp at its height, that still means there’s plenty of work to be done.
The administration will be lucky if it doesn’t end up with another bus hijacking like this one. God forbid it turns out to be worse.
Then, the media might start asking questions that don’t have to do with chimerical Border Patrol agents with whips on horseback.