Border Patrol agents are reportedly furious with President Joe Biden’s comments on a debunked claim that some agents were whipping migrants at the border.
Biden on Friday addressed claims that Border Patrol agents on horseback were “whipping” and “running … over” migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. Though no evidence has been given to support the claims, Biden pledged that the agents allegedly responsible “will pay.”
“To see people treated like they did? Horses running them over? People being strapped? It’s outrageous,” Biden said. “I promise you those people will pay. There will be consequences.”
“It’s dangerous, it’s wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world, it sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are,” he added.
Biden’s claims sparked angry reactions among Border Patrol agents who have been stretched thin attempting to curb a surge of illegal immigration into the U.S. that began shortly after Biden won the presidency last year. Agents speaking to Fox News panned Biden’s comments.
“Would you go to work and do your best knowing that if you do your boss is going to ‘make you pay?’” one agent said. “I’m dumbfounded and don’t know what to say.”
“Is the president threatening to throw us in prison?” he asked.
Another agent said, “I see the administration wants to fry our agents. He just started a war with Border Patrol.”
Brandon Judd, who represents thousands of Border Patrol agents as president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), ripped Biden on Thursday. Judd accused the president of turning on his own law enforcement officers.
“I’ve been patrolling the borders since Clinton was the president and I can tell you personally, that the policies that have been in place were by far the best under President Trump and President Biden completely and totally dismantled all of those policies,” Judd said in an interview on Fox News. “And when you look at our Border Patrol agents, when they are sent down there to that job, and by the way, Mayorkas was down on the border, and he saw the horses, he knew the horses were out there, and now he’s making, doing a 180.”
“But when our agents are out there trying to patrol the border, do their job to the best of their ability, then they’re vilified by the president,” he continued. “You know, we feel like why even go out there and do it? Why put on that uniform? Why care about the American public? That’s why we do it; we put on that uniform because we care about the American public; we want to go out there and we want to protect them. And Joe Biden is trying to break that down.”
“If President Biden wasn’t the president right now, I would arrest him for aiding and abetting,” Judd later said.
Related: Photographer Who Took Horseback Border Patrol Photos: ‘I’ve Never Seen Them Whip Anyone’