Border Patrol agents on horses facing families in the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021 didn’t use their reins to hit the migrants but did act in ways that were inappropriate and unprofessional, an internal report has found.
The report released on Friday also said that the agents didn’t get the advice they required from agency leaders.
Footage and photos from the time showed the agents swinging their reins towards the migrants and screaming at them. They were briefly attempting to stop the migrant families from bringing food to a camp where 15,000 people had congregated to apply for US entry.
The footage prompted strong criticism from many, including President Joe Biden and other Democrats who argued that the agents whipped the migrants, making comparisons to the history of slavery in the US.
Mr Biden said that the migrants were “strapped” and that punishments would be handed out following the investigation.
The Office of Professional Responsibility at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a report totalling 511 pages on Friday. It said that no migrants were hit and that no one was denied their right to apply for asylum in the US.
But the report also found that agents didn’t act properly and that the move to aid Texas State Troopers who were attempting to stop the migrants weren’t following the goals of the agency.
CBP said in a statement that there were “failures at multiple levels of the agency, a lack of appropriate policies and training, and unprofessional and dangerous behaviour by several individual agents”.
Federal prosecutors said in March that no criminal charges would be levelled, and Friday’s report didn’t make any recommendations for punishments. The report’s findings have been sent to a CBP disciplinary review board. A senior agency official will decide what punishments are required, if any, according to The Washington Post.
After the altercation, the agents involved were reassigned to administrative jobs.
“It’s horrible what you saw. To see people like they did, with horses, running them over, people being strapped, it’s outrageous,” Mr Biden said last year. “Those people will pay.”
“There is an investigation underway right now and there will be consequences,” he added at the time.
Appearing on ABC’s The View, Vice President Kamala Harris said that the incident “evoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behaviour has been used against the indigenous people of our country, has been used against African Americans during times of slavery”.
While some agents didn’t act professionally, videos didn’t show any migrant being hit. One agent was filmed facing off with a man with his family carrying things. “Hey! This is why your country’s s***! You use your women for this!” the agent yelled.
The Border Patrol was struggling at the time. Thousands of migrants, many from Haiti, crossed the Rio Grande and then camped under a bridge.
Migrants started going back to Mexico for supplies, which the agency allowed. Migrants who came to the camp were given a ticket showing when they first arrived. The families were trying to show their tickets to the agents on horses as they crossed the river.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott instructed Department of Public Safety troopers to block another crossing, a measure the Border Patrol agreed with as people had drowned in the area.
Migrants tried to cross the river at a boat ramp on 19 September when the troopers tried to block them. Border Patrol agents were told to assist the troopers. The report said that when they asked for guidance from a supervisor, they were told to provide aid.
But that wasn’t what the Border Patrol wanted them to do because they couldn’t supply the camp properly, meaning the migrants should have been allowed to go back and forth with goods.
Investigators received “inconsistent answers” from agents when they were asked if swinging the reins was in line with their training as CBP agents. The report also said that they provided irregular responses when asked about their crowd control preparations.
The agency said that investigators “found multiple instances in which agents acted inappropriately during the incident, including one Border Patrol Agent who was found to have used denigrating and inappropriate language and to have manoeuvered his horse unsafely near a child,” according to The Post.
The disciplinary review board has recommended punishments for four agents, which could be an unpaid suspension or a “letter of reprimand” outlining the failures in conduct, former officials said, the paper reported.
Former Border Patrol chiefs sent a letter to Mr Biden and the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas last month saying that they were worried that they could have prejudiced the inquiry with their previous statements.
“Every agent and representative of our government should be held to the highest standards of law enforcement and professionalism regardless of the circumstances,” they said. “However, due process is paramount to ensure against frivolous claims or undue influence on the process from political, partisan or unaffiliated interest groups.”
“We collectively believe and point out that the statements made by the President and Vice President predictively prejudged the desired outcome of the investigation and may therefore influence the case,” they added. “Stating outright that there will be consequences presumes the result of an investigation.”
The Border Patrol Union tweeted on Friday: “The three liars - Biden, Harris and Mayorkas are some of the most spiteful humans on the planet. Destroying careers and making sure the innocent pay to cover for their sins. This shameful BS has to stop. Wake the hell up America.”
They added: “The rank hypocrisy of this stupid charge is astounding: ‘We consider that your misconduct received significant media attention and had a negative impact on the reputation of the Agency’ No BP line agent could ever negatively impact ‘the Agency’ more than Mayorkas. Charge him.”
