IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 697 
Condemning and censuring Representative Maxine Waters of California. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 
Mr. OWENS (for himself, Mr. PERRY, Mr. BIGGS, Ms. FOXX, Ms. HERRELL, 
Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. GOOD of Virginia, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mrs. 
CAMMACK, and Mr. BABIN) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Ethics 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning and censuring Representative Maxine Waters 
of California. 
Whereas, on September 22, 2021, Representative Maxine 
Waters made demonstrably false allegations, without evi-
dence, that Border Patrol officials were ‘‘whipping’’ Hai-
tian individuals illegally crossing the Southern border in 
Del Rio, Texas, based on a photograph that did not show 
any such actions on the part of Border Patrol officials; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters claimed, ‘‘What we 
witnessed takes us back hundreds of years. What we wit-
nessed was worse than what we witnessed in slavery: cow-
boys with their reins, again, whipping Black people, Hai-
tians, into the water, where they’re scrambling and fall-
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ing down, and all they’re trying to do is escape from vio-
lence in their country’’; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters further claimed, ‘‘I’m 
unhappy, and I’m not just unhappy with the cowboys 
who were running down Haitians and using their reins to 
whip them. I’m [unhappy] with the Administration’’; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ allegations were dis-
proved by National Border Patrol Council Vice President 
Art Del Cueto, as he explained, ‘‘They were not whipping 
anyone. They are not assigned whips. What they do is a 
training technique that has been shown to them to make 
sure that no one takes over their horse. It was to protect 
the horse, to protect the rider and to protect the indi-
vidual that was trying to cause chaos and knock down 
that rider from that horse’’; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ allegations were dis-
proved by the AFP photographer, Paul Ratje, who took 
the photo and later stated, ‘‘I never [saw] them whip 
anyone . . . [The official] was swinging [the reins] that 
to some it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at 
the pictures’’; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ claim that ‘‘all [the 
Haitians are] trying to do is escape from violence in their 
country’’ was disproved by the Daily Mail report that 
‘‘[t]he 15,000 Haitians who turned up in Del Rio did not 
come from Haiti—they came from mostly Chile . . . the 
wealthiest country in Latin America where [the Haitians] 
have been living in modest comfort in Santiago and Sao 
Paulo for the past five or six years’’; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ allegations, as well 
as similar faux outrage by other Members of the Demo-
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cratic Party, further decreased operational control of the 
border as it led to the Department of Homeland Security 
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announcing that Border 
Patrol ‘‘would no longer be using horses in Del Rio’’, 
ending one of the only effective methods available to Bor-
der Patrol officials to prevent migrants from illegally en-
tering the country over this rugged terrain; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ false allegations de-
famed the brave men and women in the Border Patrol 
who work every day to secure our borders and hindered 
their ability to prevent the flow of drugs, disease, and po-
tential terrorists into our Nation; 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ false allegations that 
the actions of Border Patrol officials were ‘‘worse than 
what we witnessed in slavery’’ diminish and belittle the 
suffering and sacrifice of those who truly endured the 
scourge of slavery, including slaves being whipped, beat-
en, tortured, raped, and murdered; and 
Whereas Representative Maxine Waters’ false allegations 
were dangerous, failed to reflect creditably on the House, 
and brought shame on the House of Representatives: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) Representative Maxine Waters of California 
be censured; 
(2) Representative Maxine Waters of California 
forthwith present herself in the well of the House of 
Representatives for the pronouncement of censure; 
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