Minnesota’s newly-elected Democrats almost instantly promulgated the mainstream media’s wall-to-wall coverage of Monday’s border fiasco, but said nothing of the fact that tear-gas agents are frequently used at the border, and have been for years.
Tweeting at 6:30 Monday morning, Rep.-elect Dean Phillips (D-MN-03) said he was waking up to the “horrifying images of women and children being tear-gassed.”
“Another day of soul searching for our nation. We are better than this, and cannot remain silent in the face of such monstrous behavior. The 116th Congress will be sworn-in on Jan. 3, a day that can’t come soon enough,” Phillips wrote on Twitter.
Horrifying images of women and children being tear-gassed, and another day of soul searching for our nation. WE are better than this, and cannot remain silent in the face of such monstrous behavior. The 116th Congress will be sworn-in on Jan 3, a day that can’t come soon enough. https://t.co/6QaKCnKOeX
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) November 26, 2018
In one of several tweets on the subject, Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) called the incident “a wicked performance and a rating booster” for President Donald Trump.
“Stop this hellish show and abuse of power. This is life and death for asylum seekers! This can’t persist. Seeking. Asylum. Is. Legal,” she wrote.
Trump, this is a wicked performance and a rating booster.
Stop this hellish show and abuse of power.
This is life and death for asylum seekers!
This can’t persist.
Seeking. Asylum. Is. Legal.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 26, 2018
Keith Ellison, who will inherit Minnesota’s attorney general’s office come January, said the news from the border “should weight heavily on all of our consciences.”
“We are greeting women, children, mothers, and fathers seeking refuge from violence with violence. If you believe in basic human dignity, stay activated, stay motivated, stay organized,” Ellison wrote.
This should weigh heavily on all of our consciences. We are greeting women, children, mothers, and fathers seeking refuge from violence with violence.
If you believe in basic human dignity, stay activated, stay motivated, stay organized. https://t.co/JgiA4T2H8w
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) November 26, 2018
But a story from 2013 was quickly uncovered showing that the same “monstrous” tactics were employed by the U.S. Border Patrol under the Obama administration in response to a group of roughly 100 migrants who threw rocks and bottles at agents while attempting to illegally enter the country.
The Washington Times then reported Monday night that the same tear-gas agent used against the migrant caravan was also used frequently under Obama, sometimes more than once a month. The Times found Homeland Security data shows that it was used 26 times in 2012 and 27 times in 2013, dropping to three times during Obama’s final year in office.
Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council and a former U.S. Border Patrol agent, appeared on both Fox News and CNN to discuss the matter.
“This policy that we use was an Obama-written policy and it was used in 2013 at the same port of entry,” he told CNN. “The facts are, the policy written under President Obama allows us to use tear gas to disperse a crowd that was very dangerous.”
Judd later told Fox News that border patrol agents are dealing with an “unprecedented” number of immigrants, saying that “we’ve never seen a caravan of this size.”
“Nor have we seen the violence that’s associated with caravans before,” he continued. “The way these people rushed the border was absolutely monstrous. They pushed women and children up front, and then behind those women and children they started throwing rocks—cement bricks—they started throwing bottles at our border patrol agents. So it became a very, very dangerous situation.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Dean Phillips” by Dean Phillips.
