Several Republican politicians have defended Border Patrol personnel on Tuesday in the face of allegations, supported by many Democrats, that they used whips on Haitian migrants seeking to cross the border illegally.
August Pfluger, a Republican congressman from Texas, slammed the claims made by Democrats and the media. According to a Fox News report, he said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas "used the strongest language" he had "heard from him thus far to condemn his OWN Border Patrol agents based on unconfirmed photos."
"These agents are desperately trying to carry out their duties despite being woefully understaffed and lacking the resources they urgently need," the lawmaker is quoted in the report as saying. "If he is truly ‘horrified’ as he said, he should tell President Biden to stop playing political games with our nation’s security, and return to President Trump’s strong-border policies that were working."
His fellow congressman Chip Roy tweeted his agreement with border agents who reportedly called President Biden and Vice President Harris "idiots" for putting the blame for the situation onto them.
Another US political heavyweight, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, lambasted the Biden administration's anti-Border Patrol stance.
"So sad the Biden Administration doesn’t have any empathy or understanding for the brave men and women of the Border Patrol who are dealing with the $@#!-show created by the Biden Administration’s incompetence and weakness," Graham tweeted on Tuesday.
The chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, was among those who sharply criticized the border guards, calling for an immediate end to the practice of turning back refugees at the border.
The members of the Congressional group of progressive lawmakers, dubbed "The Squad", joined Waters in her criticism of the CBP agents.
In an interview with Fox News' "America Reports" on Tuesday, Art Del Cueto, Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council, fought back against accusations that agents were flogging migrants.
He noted that agents are not given whips and that the measures utilized were within safety protocol to safeguard both the agents and the horses involved in the incident.
Top Biden administration officials have slammed the actions against illegal migrants as mistreatment and initiated an investigation into the incident.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott put the blame for the ongoing crisis and the recent escalation on the White House, saying that it is President Biden's open border policies that are attracting immigration from over 150 countries throughout the world.
Over the last week, about 13,000 migrants, largely from Haiti, arrived at the Texas border town of Del Rio, leading the authorities to proclaim a state of emergency and dispatch border officials to contain the influx of migrants.