Photographer Behind Viral Photos Says He Did Not See Border Agents Whipping Haitian Migrants

Jackson RichmanSep 24th, 2021, 3:43 pm

The photographer behind viral photos of Border Patrol agents on horseback confronting Haitian migrants at the Southern Border said that the former did not whip the latter.

One of the pictures shows a Border Patrol agent on a horse while holding what appear to be reins. The agent can be seen holding the shirt of a migrant.

TOPSHOT - A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on September 19, 2021. - The United States said Saturday it would ramp up deportation flights for thousands of migrants who flooded into the Texas border city of Del Rio, as authorities scramble to alleviate a burgeoning crisis for President Joe Biden's administration.

Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

“Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses,” Paul Ratje told local NBC affiliate KTSM.

One of the pictures shows a Border Patrol agent on a horse while holding what appear to be reins. The agent can be seen holding the shirt of a migrant with the reins near the migrant. That has caused critics to interpret the conduct as a manner of a whip. The photos have caused for condemnation from the Biden administration and social media users. On Friday, President Joe Biden said that “an investigation [is] underway now, and there will be consequences” and that those agents “will pay.”

“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” said Ratje. “He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”

Ratje took the photos on Sunday from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande Valley.