Liberal legal scholar Jonathan Turley has called for Democrat President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign.
Turley accused Mayorkas of finally crossing “the line into infamy” over the bogus migrant whipping scandal.
The George Washington University Law School professor was responding to the revelation that Mayorkas backed up the Biden administration’s narrative last year that Border Patrol agents whipped Haitian migrants.
However, according to emails obtained by the Heritage Foundation via a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) and reported by Fox News, Mayorkas knew the narrative was false.
DHS assistant secretary Marsha Espinosa alerted Mayorkas on September 24, 2021, to a news article that said the photographer who took the images did not see any whips.
“Espinosa highlighted the comments from the photographer where he directly says he did not witness any whipping,” Fox noted.
Mayorkas that same day nevertheless decided to join a Biden administration press conference that pushed the debunked narrative.
He even went so far as to call the images “horrifying” and an example of “systemic racism.”
President Biden, meanwhile, made a whipping motion with his hand as he said the photographs depicted “people being strapped.”
Biden and Mayorkas pushed the false narrative as the country faced a still-ongoing crisis at the border.
In an op-ed on his website, Turley wrote:
“Mayorkas betrayed not just his agents but his oath to ‘well and faithfully discharge’ the duties of his office in his handling of the ‘whipping scandal.’
“Some of us previously criticized Mayorkas for his failure to protect the agents falsely accused of whipping migrants along the Texas-Mexico border, even after the president promised that they would be punished before any investigation.
“Now, according to newly acquired email records, it appears that Mayorkas knew hours before he made those statements that the story was false and that the photographer who took the photos expressly denied that any whipping occurred.
“Nevertheless, he supported President Biden’s and the media’s narrative and threw these agents under the proverbial bus.
“Either Mayorkas saw the email or he made little effort to discover the truth before trashing his own agents.
“The email went to various subordinates at the department and was based on public accounts. It would take willful blindness to avoid learning of the true story.
“The level of duplicity in Mayorkas’ conduct is breathtaking.
“These mounted agents were ordered to the water’s edge to stop a huge influx of migrants from Haiti.
“Some of us contested the narrative early in the scandal, noting that the video refutes the false image created by the photos.
“The agents were clearly using the reins to direct their skittish horses, not whip migrants,” Turley notes.
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) condemned ‘the inappropriate use of what appear to be whips by Border Patrol officers on horseback to intimidate migrants.’
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) decried ‘images of inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants by Border Patrol — including the use of whips.’
“Vice President Kamala Harris emoted on ‘The View’ about how the brutality ‘invoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behavior has been used against the Indigenous people of our country, it has been used against African Americans during times of slavery.’
“Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) described the incident as ‘worse than what we witnessed in slavery’ and ‘white supremacist behavior.’
“However, it was the statement of the president that was most disturbing: ‘It was horrible what — to see, as you saw — to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. It’s outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.’
“According to the new evidence acquired by the Heritage Foundation, the Administration was already aware that day that the whipping story was false.
“Shortly, after the president’s comments, on Sept. 24, 2021, Marsha Espinosa, assistant secretary of DHS public affairs, emailed Mayorkas and cc’d other DHS leadership, to make sure that they saw public stories refuting the claim.
“Yet two and a half hours after receiving that email, Mayorkas went to the White House to support the president’s clearly false narrative.
“Mayorkas declared how ‘Our nation saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are. We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism.’
“When later asked about ‘the whipping… the whips, the horse whips’ by a reporter, Mayorkas again said that ‘that is something that horrified us all.’
“Mayorkas continued to support the narrative and how the conduct of the agents ‘defies all of the values that we seek to instill in our people.’
“He then promised swift justice with an investigation that would take ‘days, not weeks.’
“The innocence of these agents was immaterial when they became useful cutouts for a narrative of systemic racism.
“In the end, they had to be punished for something,” Turley said.
“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas did not even have the decency to apologize to these agents and their families.
“They are props, not people.
“If there is any measure of decency and responsibility left in Washington, Mayorkas would resign.”
