Twitter deleted a tweet and shut down the account of the country’s border chief late Wednesday after he posted a message celebrating construction of nearly 400 miles of wall.
“This should outrage every American citizen,” said acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan, who was with other Homeland Security officials at the border Thursday to celebrate wall construction.
The tweet, which was still blocked as of Thursday morning, said walls “stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators and drugs,” and said “It’s a fact, walls work.”
The tweet was pulled down just as Twitter’s CEO was testifying to Capitol Hill at a hearing about its role in censoring political speech.
The Washington Times has reached out to Twitter for an explanation.
Twitter sent a message to Mr. Morgan saying that violated the company’s policy against threatening or harassing people based on race, ethnicity or other demographics, according to The Federalist.
“They may have locked my Twitter account, but they’re not going to lock my voice,” Mr. Morgan said to reporters at the border on Thursday.
He then gave data to back up his tweet, pointing to thousands of criminals who have been caught by Border Patrol agents trying to cross — including convicted pedophiles and gang members.
“My tweet was intended to emphasize that border security is national security,” Mr. Morgan said.
He pointed to tweets by Iranian leaders calling for the destruction of Israel, which he said are not censored, and compared it to his factual tweet.
“That’s absurd,” he said. “That doesn’t pass the BS test.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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