Nets Smeared Border Agents for ‘Horrific’ ‘Whipping’ of Migrants, Censor Their Clearing

All three broadcast networks in the fall of 2021 smeared border patrol agents as monsters who “whipped” illegal immigrants in “horrific,” “alarming” video. It was captured by a handful of border patrol agents who were riding horses to try and stop the migrants from crossing Rio Grande. 

They uncritically parroted Joe Biden on September 24, 2021 vowing to punish the accused: “I promise you, those people will pay.”  

However, New York Post reported on March 29: “The Border Patrol agents accused of ‘whipping’ Haitian migrants last September have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.” But the same networks that devoted 1Three minutes and twenty-five seconds coverageTo the supposed outrage of last fall, they have censored all mentions of the clearing. 

The story was hammered by ABC for five consecutive days from September 20th until the 24th of 2021. Good Morning AmericaAnd World News TonightYou can smear the agents for between seven and nine seconds. CBS MorningsAnd the CBS Evening NewsFinished in second place with 3 minutes, 12 seconds. NBC pushed these now-false claims for 3 minutes and 4 seconds. TodayAndNightly News 

The networks assumed that there was no malice and did not provide any evidence. This was on the 21st of September, 2021 Today, co-host Hoda Kotb scolded, “But this morning, a new controversy: Shocking images of border agents appearing to whip migrants.” 

September 23, 2021 CBS Mornings featured radical Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, sliming the agents as racist: “We witnessed cowboys, with their reins again, whipping black people, Haitians, into the water.” 

This will be effective on the 20th of September World News Tonight, anchor David Muir seemed to try and convict the agents: “There are alarming images from the Texas border tonight. They were called horrendous by the White House today. What were some border patrol agents doing?” 

Anchor Lester Holt inaugurated the September 21 NBC Nightly News promoting Biden’s relentless attacks on the men: “The President vowing to get the crisis at the border under control as outrage grows over these images, border agents on horseback confronting migrants.” Three days later, Biden deemed the agents guilty, saying at the White House: “It’s outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay.” 

September 22, 2009 World News TonightKenneth Moton was the featured reporter and he showed how fast it was progressing. He noted that the Department of Homeland Security is “launching an investigation into these images, showing border patrol agents on horses, confronting migrants as they enter Texas from Mexico.” On September 23, WNT‘s Muir explained that DHS is “temporarily suspending the use of horses.”

But now, seven months later? There was silence from the networks. On March 29, President of the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd concluded: “[Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General] determined there was no criminal activity that was done so they closed out their investigation.” 

Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum spoke to viewers April 19, 2022. 

The case against border agents accused of whipping migrants crossing the border has been closed. They weren’t charged with any wrongdoing. They should have admitted that they were mischaracterizing what happened at the border by those who blamed them for wrongdoing. 

You would. AlsoIt would be great if journalists could apologize for accusing border agents of racism whipping attacks. They claimed that the allegations were false, and they have since dropped them. They need to cover the story, even if it makes Joe Biden — and the press — look bad.

Prudential sponsored the ABC guilty verdict last fall. On CBS, it was Neutrogena and on NBC, it was Geico. To let Prudential know your opinion about the accusations, click on the following links.