When border agents on horseback were falsely accused of whipping Haitian migrants in Texas in September 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris jumped on the bandwagon and slammed Border Patrol personnel — claiming the photos from the incident reminded her of America’s history of slavery.
“Human beings should not be treated that way,” Harris told the “View” just days after the controversy became national news. “It also 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.”
The claims that border agents whipped the migrants, who were black, were later debunked by both the photographer who took the pictures that kicked off the controversy and, later, an official Customs and Border Protection investigation.
However, Harris — who was tasked with stopping the historically high flow of migrants across the US border — never backtracked or apologized for her previous statements.
And Border Patrol agents haven’t forgotten the comments by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris’ statements “vilified” the agency, a border agent who works in the border region where the incident happened told The Post.
The agent, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Harris “isn’t willing to apologize because it didn’t fit the narrative.”
“It sickens me that they could care less about us,” the agent said.
The false accusations made at least one of the agent’s lives “hell,” a second border agent told The Post.
“I’m positive if Kamala is president the crisis will explode again.”
When the images of horseback border agents overwhelmed by the arrival of roughly 14,000 Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, began going viral in the media, several top officials in the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers began jumping on a narrative asserting that the agents were whipping the illegal border crossers.
Months later in July 2022, that claim officially fell apart after an investigation found no whipping occurred. The probe did say that the horseback agents “engaged in unprofessional or dangerous behavior, including one instance in which an agent used denigrating and offensive language.”
“Whips are not part of Border Patrol training or equipment,” the then-CBP acting commissioner Chris Magnus said at the time.
Harris’ history on border policy and immigration has resurfaced as she prepares to face former President Donald Trump in November.
Republican attacks have focused on Harris’ role in the Biden administration as the “border czar” tasked with tackling the “root causes of migration” in Central America during record illegal crossings at the southern border.
In addition to her comments about Border Patrol, Harris’ 2018 statement likening ICE agents to the KKK has also come back to haunt her. Those comments came when then-Senator Harris was questioning Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, Ronald Vitiello. She claimed that there a was “perception” there were similarities between the agency and the Klan.