Biden blasts his administration’s treatment of Haitian migrants

US President Joe Biden has denounced his administration’s treatment of Haitian migrants at the southern border as un-American and vowed to punish those responsible, after images circulated of American border patrol agents on horseback using whips on migrants seeking asylum.

“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running them over and people being strapped. It was outrageous. I promise those people will pay,” Biden said on Friday after a reporter asked if he took responsibility for the situation at the border, which he answered that he did.

Biden noted that the Department of Homeland Security is investigating the situation and emphasized “there will be consequences.”

“It’s an embarrassment. It’s beyond an embarrassment. It’s dangerous, it’s wrong, it sends the wrong message around the world or sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are,” Biden continued.

Images appeared of riders on horseback rounding up Haitian migrants and using their reins in an aggressive manner. The brutal treatment of the migrants by the border agents drew a swell of criticism toward the Biden administration's handling of the issue.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said, “What we witnessed takes us back hundreds of years. What we witnessed was worse than what we witnessed in slavery."

The influential California Democrat added, “Cowboys with their reins in hand whipping Black people, Haitians, into the water where they’re scrambling and falling down and all they’re trying to do is escape the violence in their country.”

“I wanna know in the first place who’s paying these cowboys to do this work. They’ve got to be gotten rid of,” the chair of the House Committee on Financial Services added. “They’re trying to take us back to slavery days, and worse than that.”

‘Worse than slavery’: Congresswoman Maxine Waters blasts US treatment of Haitian migrants

Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters has said the US treatment of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas is worse than slavery.

The remarks represented Biden’s most extensive comments on the influx of Haitian migrants at the southern border to date. He has been almost entirely silent on the topic this week, but the White House has denounced the images of Customs and Border Protection agents chasing migrants as horrifying.

The Biden administration has defended the controversial policy and insisted they are working to implement an “orderly and humane process” at the border.

“Our policy process has continued to be the same with Haiti as it is for anybody coming through an irregular migration across our border,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.

Under fire, Biden administration suspends horse patrols

Under fire from human rights groups and some progressive Democrats, the Biden administration has temporarily suspended the use of horse patrols in Del Rio, Texas.

The Biden administration is implementing a strategy to ramp up deportation flights to forcibly expel migrants in South Texas where thousands of people are held in squalid conditions.

US authorities are also reportedly planning to fly some of the migrants to other parts of the border that are not experiencing a surge like Del Rio’s.

The new surge of migrants in the southern border represents yet another test of Biden’s widely-criticized immigration policy.

Biden had repeatedly promised on the campaign trail to overturn the harshest aspects of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.

The scene of dense crowds, sleeping on dirt in scorching heat and with little access to food and clear water, drew condemnations from local officials.

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