Border Patrol agents didn’t whip or strike Haitian migrants last year, a lengthy internal affairs investigation concluded Friday, but it did find that some agents used excessive force by positioning their horses in the Rio Grande to try to keep the migrants from reaching the U.S.
Investigators also faulted agency leaders, saying they lacked clear goals for dealing with the unprecedented incursion of 15,000 migrants who established a squatters camp on the American side of the river, then began to come and go freely from Mexico, challenging the integrity of the border.
Four agents have been recommended for discipline over their use of force and, in one case, for insulting language used against migrants.