The New York Times on Thursday criticized the Biden administration for allegedly deploying some of the same aggressive border control tactics it had previously accused the Trump administration of using.
”The deportation of Haitian migrants is a stark example of how President Biden has deployed some of the most aggressive approaches to immigration put in place by former President Donald J. Trump,” the Times said.
The Times article comes the same day the Department of Homeland Security suspended mounted patrols of border areas following the release of videos showing unflattering images of officers trying to restrain Haitian refugees attempting to cross into the United States.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the scenes of agents on horseback were ”horrific” and not ”acceptable or appropriate.”
Vice President Kamala Harris said that ”human beings should never be treated that way,” the Times reported.
But despite these statements condemning the situation, the Times blasted President Joe Biden and his administration for the alleged double standard.
”The images could have come straight from former President Donald J. Trump’s immigration playbook: mounted Border Patrol agents rounding up desperate Haitian families at the southwestern border for rapid deportation from the United States,” the publication said.
On Wednesday, the Times said, the Biden administration is using an emergency rule the Trump administration put in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to deport the migrants, who are being flown back to Haiti.
More than 1,000 Haitians were flown back to Haiti between Sept. 19 and 21, USA Today said.
The article said there is debate throughout all government agencies over how aggressive to be at the border. This is contributing to what critics on both the left and right say appears to be a chaotic and reactive policy.
On Feb. 2, the president said his goal was to ”undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration.” Still, the Biden administration ”is deploying some of the most aggressive approaches to immigration put in place by Mr. Trump over the past four years.”
The Times quoted Marisa Franco, executive director of the Latino civil rights group Mijente, as calling Biden out: ”How are you actually different than Trump? You campaigned that immigration was one of the places where Trump was inhumane and failed. And last time I checked, Trump is not the president.”
