DHS Secretary Mayorkas was told Border Patrol didn't whip Haitian migrants: report

Prior to appearing at a press conference during which he supported a narrative that Border Patrol agents had whipped Haitian migrants, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly received word that the photographer who had taken viral images denied any whipping occurred.

Hours prior to his public appearance, Mayorkas received an email from the assistant secretary of DHS Public Affairs that included a news article in which the photographer said he did not see any instances of whipping during the incident. The Heritage Foundation obtained the Sept. 24, 2021, email via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, per Fox News.

Mayorkas, nevertheless, appeared in public that day alongside White House press secretary Jen Psaki and declined to challenge the Biden administration narrative.

"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," the DHS secretary said that same day. "The images horrified us in terms of what they suggest and what they conjure up."

In reality, a federal investigation found no evidence that authorities struck migrants at all during the incident. Rather, the images showed the mounted agents using split reins to control their horses. Neither Biden nor Mayorkas have publicly asserted that whipping did not occur during the incident.