Rep. Julian Castro (R-TX) executive advisor Sawyer Hacket called out the administration through a tweet sharing a graphic video, where mounted US Border Patrol agents are seen chasing and whipping Haitian migrants — menacingly, as they try to cross the Rio Grande near Del Rios, Texas.
As the Haitians tried to climb onto the US side of the river Sunday afternoon, an agent was heard shouting: “Let’s go! Get out now! Go back to Mexico!”
“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,” Hackett shared in the tweet.
In the tense video, a migrant is seen falling as he tries to dodge the horse, as others shield their heads with their hands.
Warning: the following footage is disturbing and may offend sensibilities
After a few minutes the agents retreated and allowed the migrants to return to the camp, where over 10,000 are waiting to be granted entrance.
The migrants, mostly from Haiti, have been migrating to the US from South America in desperate need of asylum from the United States government, many having left their Caribbean home after the recent devastating earthquake that wrecked Haiti.
Immigration and human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid also shared a tweet Monday morning implying that the correct way to legally seek asylum is to cross the border and ask for it. He said blocking asylum seekers violates American law.
"@CBP is whipping Haitian refugees seeking asylum. This is both grotesquely inhumane & also illegal. Seeking asylum is a human right. It is accomplished by crossing the border and asking for asylum. Blocking asylum seekers violates American law", he tweeted.
When President Biden took office, he granted humanitarian protection for Haitians in the United States already living in the US due to conditions in Haiti, including political unrest and natural disasters.
The Biden administration announced on Saturday that it would swiftly begin deporting all Haitians migrants from their Southern border camp.
US officials have stepped up security at the border and started flying migrants out of the area, some to Haiti.