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President Joe Biden called the mistreatment of migrants at the border with Mexico “intolerable” and promised that there will be “consequences” for those who committed them.
Speaking to reporters after a speech on the vaccination process against COVID-19, Biden acknowledged that it was “outrageous” to see the images of border agents chasing migrants from their horses or assaulting them with leashes.
“There will be consequences,” promised the president, who acknowledged that what happened is a “shame,” but it is also “dangerous and wrong.”
“It’s simply not who we are,” said the president, for whom these images send the “wrong” message to the world and the country.
With these words, Biden commented for the first time on the controversial images that have been seen this week of border police chasing and even threatening migrants with whips or leashes at the border with Mexico.
Thousands of migrants, mostly Haitians, have crossed the border in the Del Rio area and have camped out in recent weeks under a bridge; this has been prompted in part by open border policies promised by Democrats on the campaign trail in the last presidential election.
The U.S. government has already deported, according to the Haitian administration, 1,324 migrants.
The U.S. special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned yesterday in protest against the “inhumane” treatment of migrants at the border and the deportation policy.
