New Emails Obtained by Oversight Project Show DHS Politicized Fake Del Rio ‘Whipping’ Scandal

The Oversight Project today announced the release of new documents showing how the Biden administration politicized the fake “whipping” scandal created by the left in September 2021 and perpetuated since by the Biden administration.

The Project obtained more than 130 new pages of emails between senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other Biden administration officials after suing over an ignored Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA) earlier this year. Read all the documents here.

The emails provided another troubling look into the internal politics of the Biden administration in the aftermath of the events in Del Rio, and are just the latest in a batch of documents obtained by the Project showing how Biden administration officials have played politics with border security and the careers and reputations of Border Patrol agents.

In one email, an unknown sender emails Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, acting CBP commissioner Troy Miller, and several other unknown recipients that they will “need to clarify what reins look like vs. a horse whip, and clarify use of force,” referencing a Reuters piece that used language saying BP agents were using “a lariat like a whip.” Taken in context with the unknown sender’s comment, this is more proof Mayorkas knew mounted Border Patrol agents were innocent of the ‘whipping’ charge.

Another email showed the political pressure the White House was putting on DHS immediately after the events took place. On Monday, Sept. 24, another unknown sender emailed Miller, Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz, acting CBP deputy commissioner Bejamine Huffman, and CBP executive assistant commissioner Manuel Padilla, saying, “We need to get the more details on this as soon as possible. Just got a call from WH IGA/Political—the footage is getting everywhere.”

And perhaps most striking, in multiple emails Ortiz criticized the constant negative coverage of the Border Patrol. In one email to the above recipients, as well as a member of CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, Ortiz said, “This horse business is awfully negative, but there are great efforts occurring and we aren’t highlighting any of them. … Our agents are being assaulted and we aren’t saying a word. The bus contractors and pilots are dealing with Haitians escaping or trying to overrun drivers and we stay quiet. Agents and pro staff are working 14 hours days in difficult conditions, nothing said. We have to change the narrative or these stories will be the only story.”

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