DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas actually halted a press conference briefly to correct reporter April Ryan after she tried to revive – twice – a false story about Border Patrol agents ‘whipping’ Haitian illegal immigrants.
Ryan, a reporter for The Grio and contributor to CNN, obviously felt comfortable enough in her environment, surrounded by journalists who likewise often lie about stories and a Homeland Security chief who actually helped spread this fake news story in particular.
“The southern border is not just Mexicans, it is Haitians, it’s Africans, as we — as we’ve seen, particularly with that issue with the Haitians being whipped with the reins on the horses,” she said before Mayorkas interjected.
“Well, let me just correct you right there, because actually, the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur,” he replied.
Ryan then doubled down.
“I’m sorry, I saw it differently,” she said, an odd defense for something that she never actually saw at all, unless she was privy to video no one else was allowed to see.
“They were whipped with something from the horse — reins from a horse. I — I — maybe the video or the picture was fixed, but what I saw was totally different,” she continued.
“I’m gonna leave you as corrected,” Mayorkas shot back.
Mayorkas corrects April Ryan when she brings up the “Haitians being whipped with the reins of the horses,” noting “the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur.”
Ryan: “Maybe either the video or the picture was fixed but what I saw was totally different.” pic.twitter.com/sPLPRLMXAx
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 11, 2023
Haitian Migrants Weren’t Whipped
How bad does a lie have to be for a perpetual liar like Alejandro Mayorkas to say, ‘Ya know, this is so blatant that even I have to correct the record’?
The Haitian migrants being whipped story never happened. It was a media lie from the start, spread by a Democrat communications strategist who had no idea how horses and/or reins work, and who was willing to share an image from a dubious angle.
The truth, however, was quickly revealed.
What’s unfathomable is the stupidity involved in thinking you’d get away with lying.
Hey @TwitterSupport – You need to pull this tweet and ban this clown.
He’s spreading a ‘big lie.’
Here’s the alternate angle… pic.twitter.com/70BzKUGT7B
— Rusty ?️ (@rustyweiss74) September 21, 2021
The agents were eventually cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, as it was revealed they were using split reins to control their horses – not “whipping migrants.”
What is truly wild here is that Mayorkas helped spread the initial media lie.
Fox News reported that an email sent to Mayorkas and other DHS officials included an article complete with highlighted sections that indicate the actual photographer behind the image insisted there was no whipping involved.
NEW: Email reveals DHS Secretary Mayorkas was alerted by DHS’ top public affairs official that the “whipping” narrative behind horseback BP photos wasn’t true, but at a WH press conference 2.5 hours later, he didn’t refute that narrative, instead calling the images “horrifying”. pic.twitter.com/Qyfy2NBkNo
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) October 12, 2022
Mayorkas condemned the Border Patrol agents anyway at a press conference hours later.
“Our nation saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are,” Mayorkas said nearly three hours after the email was sent. “We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism.”
Too bad somebody at that particular press conference didn’t stop him and ‘leave him corrected.’
“In the midst of meeting these challenges, we, our entire nation, saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are, who we aspire to be, or the integrity and values of our truly heroic personnel,” DHS Secretary Mayorkas says. pic.twitter.com/nAhawZK47C
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 24, 2021
They’ll Just Keep Trying and Trying to Lie
On a side note – April Ryan’s mask in the press briefing is completely for show. Look at any clip of her in the past year on YouTube and you will find the only place she wears the mask is during White House press briefings. It’s hilarious.
Ryan’s attempt to revive the story about Haitian migrants being whipped is yet another example of how the left lies initially to create a media firestorm, waits as it takes months to correct the record, then simply repeats the lie casually over the ensuing years because there are simply too many low-information people out there who won’t bother to check the facts on the matter.
It’s a formula that has worked time and again for them. President Biden just did the same thing when he once again tried to push the Charlottesville ‘fine people’ hoax – a story so thoroughly debunked it’s ridiculous.
*yawn* Ah, the ol’ “fine people” hoax again.
Been debunked countless times. I wonder if any of the “fact-checkers” working feverishly to analyze Trump’s CNN town hall will correct this lie.
Here’s your chance @CommunityNotes.
— Rusty ?️ (@rustyweiss74) May 11, 2023
Why do they do it? Because they know that if they simply continue to lie there will be enough people out there who will believe it because the truth is so far in the rearview mirror.
Ryan continued to shamelessly lie about the ‘whipping’ story, tripling down on the claim on Twitter, earning herself a Community Notes fact-check.
Maybe its just me but! pic.twitter.com/mfgkxc5i3f
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 11, 2023
Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin hammered Ryan for trying her best to keep the false story alive.
“It’s just you,” he said. “Pushing a completely false, debunked narrative after a lengthy investigation. Debunked even by the photographer who took these photos.”
It’s just you. Pushing a completely false, debunked narrative after a lengthy investigation. Debunked even by the photographer who took these photos. Those are split reins used to control the horse. Nobody was whipped. https://t.co/fELAiX2vvW
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 11, 2023
To be fair, that’s the sole purpose of legacy media in America today. To push false, debunked narratives like the good little propaganda machine they are.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
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