Head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Resigns Amid Pressure from Both Sides as Southern Border is in Tatters
The White House announced late Saturday that Chris Magnus, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner, had submitted his resignation. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in astatement that President Joe Biden had accepted the resignation.
Pierre said in her statement, “President Biden appreciates Commissioner Magnus’ nearly forty years of service and the contributions he made to police reform during his tenure as police chief in three U.S. cities. The President thanks Mr. Magnus for his service at CBP and wishes him well.”
Magnus offered no reason why he was resigning in the letter, only saying he was grateful to have served in the role, and that is resignation is effective immediately.
Rumors were everywhere all week about Magnus. The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has asked Magnus to step down or be fired. The CBP is an agency housed within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Maybe Mayorkas needed someone to be axed to save his own job. Also, the Times said John Tien, deputy secretary of the DHS, also asked Magnus to step down. The information from the Times was told to them by Magnus, himself, they reported.
At the beginning of November, more than a dozen House Republicans sent a letter to Biden asking for Magnus to resign. The lawmakers cited a report from Politico, which had reported that “five current administration officials who work with Magnus describe him as unengaged in his job, saying he often failed to attend White House meetings on the situation on the border, badmouthed other agencies to colleagues and superiors, and has not built relationships within CBP and across immigration agencies to address the influx of migrants at the border.”
“Based on a recent report by Politico, U.S. CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus has been sleeping on the job, literally,” Representative Jody Hice (R-GA), who led the group in sending the letter, said in a statement prior to sending the letter.
“It is unacceptable for someone in such critical position to skip high-level meetings because of his sleep schedule,” Hice added. “America’s top border official is prioritizing naps over national security. Magnus has been snoring through the skyrocketing border crossings since he got the job. Under his supervision, we’ve seen record-breaking border crossings month after month.”
Magnus responded to the report at the time, defending his approach in leading what he called an operational agency and saying that his critics were either unfair or uninformed.
Deputy Commissioner Troy Miller will immediately take up the role of acting commissioner, Mayorkas said in aletter.
