Pictures of Haitians retreating at the border “do not reflect” the United States

In a snapshot taken by an AFP-appointed photographer, a border guard on horseback catches a man with his t-shirt on the American side of the Rio Grande, a natural border between the two countries near Del Rio, Texas.

On the other, he keeps a group away by twisting his reins in a pose that threatens them to turn towards Mexico.

Mr Mayorkas assured the Houseland Security Committee in the House of Representatives that the images “do not reflect what we are as a country or what America’s border police do.”

He recalled being ordered to begin an investigation and promised swift results “rather than in a few days and weeks.”

The day before, he announced on Twitter that he had assigned administrative tasks to agents identified in the photos.

These films, which are worldwide, have caused a sensation in America, even as close friends of President Joe Biden.

“These pictures make you nauseous,” said Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate Democratic Majority.

Vice President Kamala Harris called them “terrible” and said “men should never behave like this”.

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To some, these immigrants are equated with cattle or reminiscent of the treatment African Americans experienced through mounted police, prison guards, or slave owners.

The U.S. government has been struggling to cope with the sudden and massive influx of thousands of immigrants, including many Haitians, for several days under a bridge in Del Rio, a small border town in Texas.

As the small Caribbean country plunged into political, security and humanitarian crisis, authorities began sending them back to their country by plane.

Mr Mayorkas assured that “we have a plan to respond to this influx of immigrants.” “We will apply it, it will take time and we will start looking at the results.”

Thousands of people continued to cross the Rio Grande on Wednesday to seek asylum in the United States.

Many Haitians from the countries of South America where they settled after the devastating earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation in 2010 have traveled to the United States.

A Colombian official said Wednesday that 19,000 immigrants, mostly Haitians, had attempted a dangerous crossing into the United States, on the Panama border, north of the country.

Negotiations are also underway with Latin American countries such as Chile or Brazil, “to see if they will accept the return of Haitians from these countries,” Alejandro Myorkas described the situation as “complicated”.

Despite the U.S. government telling residents not to open borders, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday accused the Biden administration and Democratic “left wing” of encouraging immigration and “tolerating a major border security crisis.”