Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that he “going to take a look” at possibly eliminating horse-mounted border patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border following false accusations of agents “whipping” Haitian migrants illegally entering the country.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas tells @edokeefe he's "going to take a look" at potentially eliminating horse patrols after agents used reins on migrants at the border. He says horses are often used to cross difficult terrain and the patrol "has actually saved lives many times before" pic.twitter.com/1hZ7E5Lqwo
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 24, 2021
A transcript is as follows:
ED O’KEEFE: Starting with the situation at Del Rio, the mounting units are temporarily suspended. Are you considering eliminating them all together?
SEC. ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: So we’re going to take a look. What we are focused on right now is addressing the urgency of the situation in Del Rio under than bridge. We are still getting through it. Remember as I mentioned in response to the prior question, we still have operational needs across the border with respect to this particular population of individuals. But we’re going to be taking a look at this.
What the horse patrol is customarily used to do, for everyone’s benefit, is horses are able to cross terrain that might not otherwise be traversed and what they often do, and in fact most often do, is assess the situation and actually assist in helping people in destress. That horse patrol, the horse patrol that the Customs and Border Protection employs has actually saved lives many times before. But we will take a look.
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