GOP renews calls for Mayorkas resignation after bombshell Haitian migrants 'whipping' email report

The whipping narrative derived from a misinterpretation of the photos.

By Ben Whedon
Updated: October 14, 2022 - 6:07pm

Republicans are renewing calls for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following a bombshell report indicating he had been made aware that border agents did not whip Haitian migrants before publicly condemning their actions on the basis of that false 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," Mayorkas said in a press conference on the matter. "The images horrified us in terms of what they suggest and what they conjure up."

Hours prior, however, Mayorkas reportedly received an email from Assistant Secretary of DHS Public Affairs Maria Espinosa that included a news article revealed that the photographer who captured the viral images denied having seen any instances of whipping.

The whipping narrative derived from a misinterpretation of the photos, which showed the mounted agents using split reins to direct their horses. A federal investigation later found no evidence whipping occurred during the incident.

Republicans have seized on the report to renew calls for Mayorkas's ouster.

"If reports are true, then Secretary Mayorkas should resign. This is a failure of leadership and a complete betrayal of the hardworking Border Patrol agents who have been doing their best to maintain some control of the border in midst of this administration’s failed policies," North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said, per Fox News.

Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, meanwhile, said Mayorkas's career "should be over."

The GOP has previously mulled impeaching the DHS secretary amid an unprecedented surge in illegal migration at the southern border. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in April gave a press conference at the southern border in which gave Mayorkas a 30-day deadline to address the situation.

"This is his moment in time to do his job but at any time if someone is derelict in their job, there is always the option of impeaching somebody, but right now he's got 30 days," he said. Those thirty days have since passed.

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has, in the wake of the bombshell report, vowed to see Mayorkas impeached, signaling such an event will occur in "just a few months," according to Fox.

GOP renews calls for Mayorkas resignation after bombshell Haitian migrants 'whipping' email report | Just The News