Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina President JOE BIDEN called footage of border patrol agents on horseback appearing to confront Haitian migrants last week “beyond an embarrassment.” Vice President KAMALA HARRIS called the images “horrible” and “deeply troubling,” and Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS said he was “horrified.” The horse patrol’s operations in Del Rio have been temporarily suspended amid an investigation into the agents — but the vocal condemnations belie a more tempered administration response: Customs and Border Protection agents are still patrolling on horseback along at least three other sections of the southern border according to BRANDON JUDD, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing the agents. Judd said the horse patrol is still operating in McAllen, Laredo and to some extent, in El Paso, Texas. “In every southwest border sector, there’s a horse patrol unit,” Judd told us. The horse patrol is sometimes the only option for border agents to enter regions that are inaccessible by any other means, such as 4x4 vehicles or ATVS. “Without the Horse Patrol, these areas would remain unpatrolled and susceptible to transnational criminal activity,” CBP says on its website. As one former border agent told us, much of the border is in the middle of a river, making it very hard for border agents to handle it any other way. White House press secretary JEN PSAKI acknowledged at Monday’s press briefing that the practice is only suspended in Del Rio, “in response, of course, directly to those horrific photos.” She added, “I think it's important to note that, as [Mayorkas] said, the vast majority of the Border Patrol and the Horse Patrol are doing their job and they're doing their job effectively.” As part of that job, horseback agents patrolling the border learn to use their reins in a way that prompted accusations they were whipping fleeing Haitian migrants in Del Rio. But Judd said those actions were not what they appeared, explaining that agents are trained to use the reins, “in a twirling fashion to try to keep people back away from the horse.” “I know when they say, ‘Well, I’m just following orders,’ it makes it sound like they’re just doing what they’re being told to do,” former border patrol agent JENN BUDD said in an interview. There's an assumption from agents that policies have "been vetted by the attorneys and that they're safe to do it." Critics of their behavior, meanwhile, concede it’s unlikely the Del Rio agents will be disciplined after the investigation. That’s in part because the migrants pictured and recorded last week are probably already deported. “This is actually a very common problem with investigating the border patrol,” AARON REICHLIN-MELNICK, a policy counsel for the American Immigration Council said. His organization found via a FOIA investigation that no action was taken in 97 percent of complaints filed between 2009 and 2012. “There has been no indication that policies have changed, meaning that in the overwhelming majority of complaints that are failed against border patrol agents, absolutely no action is taken against those agents, and it is only in an extraordinarily rare circumstances that agents are required to resign or step down,” Reichlin-Melnick said. The Biden administration has tried to straddle a delicate political line in its reaction to the latest complaints about the CBP, criticizing the actions against Haitian migrants while seeking to show support for the agency as it seeks to contain surging numbers of asylum seekers in recent months. The border patrol union was not placated, ripping the president for “blaming the Border Patrol agents who were left to clean up the mess his administration created.” It’s a stark contrast to CBP agents’ cozy relationship with the previous administration. When he was president, DONALD TRUMP enlisted border patrol agents to join conservative talk show hosts and Republican allies in publicly supporting his border wall — not just in words, but by standing next to him, the Washington Post reported. Trump also brought border agent union leaders to a briefing to talk about the need for a wall. And Judd, a Fox News stalwart, served on Trump’s 2016 transition team. This is the workplace environment that Tucson, Ariz. Chief of Police CHRIS MAGNUS, an outspoken Trump critic, will enter if he is confirmed to lead the CBP. Sen. RON WYDEN (D-Ore.) announced earlier today he is lifting his hold on Biden’s nominee for CBP commissioner, after a phone call with Mayorkas. Wyden had been blocking Magnus’ nomination as he pressed DHS to provide more information about the role the department’s law enforcement arms played in policing violent 2020 protests in Portland. A Democratic Senate aide said he was unaware of any Democrats prepared to vote against Magnus, likely paving the way for his confirmation. Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you EMILY HORNE, spokesperson for the National Security Council? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: westwingtips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here. | 
