As Katie reported Monday, a story was concocted by leftist political operatives, fed to sympathetic "journalists" looking to change the narrative from Biden's multiple crises, and by the afternoon had made its way into the White House press briefing.
The whole story, of course, is false. Mounted Border Patrol agents doing their duty to protect America's sovereignty aren't issued whips. And the split reins many of them use hang loose and are used to control their horses, not attack illegal immigrants.
As Julio reported from Del Rio, Texas, "agents spin their reins as a deterrent for people getting close to the horses to prevent people from being trampled." That is, the images leftist reporters and Democrat operatives said depicted some sort of brutality were in fact images of agents doing their best to keep illegal immigrants from getting trampled by their horses.
The reality of the situation and the fact that the initial narrative was quickly debunked, of course, did nothing to slow the media or Democrats' spin as they pounced, seized, etc. on the new distraction from what has become just one of President Biden's unmitigated crises.
Reuters tweaked the obviously false narrative about whips to say they were "whip-like chords" in a story Tweeted Monday night.
The White House 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 https://t.co/g6x1sHyCt6
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 21, 2021
The Daily Beast furthered the lies saying video showed "officers on horseback using ropes to whip at" illegal immigrants.
A video showing Border Patrol officers on horseback using ropes to whip at Haitian migrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande has garnered a strong reaction from the Biden administration and other politicians. https://t.co/qNzf84TdTm
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) September 20, 2021
CNN, also realizing that the narrative about whips — something border agents don't have — was falling apart, adopted Reuters' terminology to say "agents were seen using whip-like cord on migrants" Tuesday morning. Still false.
"Any mistreatment or abuse of a migrant is unacceptable, is against border patrol policy, training and our department's values," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says after Border Patrol agents were seen using whip-like cord on migrants.https://t.co/AvgQZ2HzLI pic.twitter.com/SwEvpOI5yi
— New Day (@NewDay) September 21, 2021
Even The Washington Examiner repeated the false narrative about "agents using reins as whips" on Tuesday afternoon."
Images of mounted Border Patrol agents using reins as whips to thwart Haitian border crossings have injected a new level of outrage into the border crisis.
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 21, 2021
Media outlets, often benignly negligent in their coverage of the crisis, have begun to turn a glaring eye toward it. pic.twitter.com/kibg35cqSG
Democrat House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) poured more gas on the fake-news fire as he suddenly found a reason to talk about the situation at the border after ignoring the surge in illegal immigration in recent months.
The images emerging from the border near Del Rio, Texas are horrific.
— James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) September 21, 2021
There is no situation in which Border Patrol agents should use physical violence against those seeking refuge and safety in the United States.
We must ensure migrants are treated humanely and with dignity.
Several other Democrats also repeated the false narrative, breathing new life into the baseless news cycle.
This is so sick and @CBP will continue to commit human rights abuses if we don't stop it now.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 20, 2021
Cracking a fucking whip on Haitians fleeing hardship shows you that this system simply can't be reformed. @OversightDems + @HouseJudiciary should hold hearings immediately + act. https://t.co/RLsG3EY6Fw
Use of whips on refugees? Disturbing and unacceptable. This must end immediately. https://t.co/C28fk2QFqL
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) September 20, 2021
Joining Fox News on Tuesday afternoon, Townhall's Katie Pavlich set the record straight on what was actually going on in the photos and videos manipulated to create a new narrative out of Biden's failed border policies.
"This is just another example of reporters writing and talking about things that they have no idea what they're talking about," Katie explained. "If you know anything about Western horse riding you know that those are reins, they are not whips - and yet you had Democratic operatives tweeting out these photos and reporters jumped all over them and sent it all the way up to the White House yesterday with Jen Psaki answering a question yesterday. She said 'I don't have all the context of the situation but I'm not sure what the context would be for this to happen.'"
"Well first of all, it didn't happen," Katie said, stating the obvious fact that too many in the media and politics ignore to continue advancing their false narrative. "These Border Patrol agents should be thanked for defending the country, for carrying out their job, doing their duty to protect the country as people come into the country illegally and break the laws and resist arrest and refuse to take orders to not come over into the United States without permission and without legalization."
Speaking of the White House's response, Katie points out that "you had Jen Psaki repeating this vicious lie and now they're saying that they want an investigation when very clearly these were not whips, these illegal immigrants were not being whipped in the river - they're being told to step back from an international border."
.@KatiePavlich rips the "vicious lie" that border patrol agents were using "whips" on illegal immigrants:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 21, 2021
"It didn't happen...We are talking about the sovereignty of a country here, and people seem to be offended that border patrol agents were simply doing their jobs?" pic.twitter.com/f9xPIesBaI
"I think that this whole thing has been desensitized in the sense that people think this is an issue of police brutality or maybe things are just getting out of hand," Katie added. "We are talking about the sovereignty of a country here. And people seem to be offended that Border Patrol agents were simply doing their job and now the White House wants an investigation into these patriotic dutiful men who were protecting Del Rio, Texas, from an onslaught of illegal immigration?"
"These agents have been completely smeared and these border communities are grateful that somebody is stepping up to protect them from this increase and never ending flow of illegal immigration," she added.
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