Chris Magnus officially resigned his post as U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner over the weekend, but reportedly after initially rejecting a demand to step aside or be fired.
His departure comes after a brief standoff with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday when he refused to step down.
The Los Angeles Times was the first to report on the ultimatum. In a statement to the newspaper, Magnus said he was asked by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to step down or he would be fired. He said he wouldn’t step down and defended his record.
Then on Saturday, Magnus, 62, sent his letter of resignation to President Biden.
Biden accepted his resignation and thanked Magnus for nearly 40 years of public service in law enforcement.
In a statement released on Saturday, Magnus said, “I resigned because I believe this decision provides me with the best path for advancing my commitment to professional, innovative, and community-engaged policing.”
CBP Deputy Commissioner Troy Miller will assume Magnus’s duties in the interim.
Magnus resigned less than a year after he was confirmed by the Senate in a 50-47 vote as the Biden administration’s choice to lead the CBP, which is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the world.
His 11-month tenure was rocky as the agency faced criticism over its treatment of migrants, along with calls for tougher border protection as a record number of immigrants crossed the border illegally this year.
The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), the U.S. Border Patrol agents’ union, had blasted Magnus in a tweet on Friday.
“He was so busy chasing imaginary ‘culture’ problems in BP he forgot his primary job,” the union wrote. “Chasing unicorns only works if you convince people unicorns exist. BP doesn’t have a culture problem. It has a leadership problem, starting with Biden. Good riddance.”
He was so busy chasing imaginary “culture” problems in BP he forgot his primary job. Chasing unicorns only works if you convince people unicorns exist.
BP doesn’t have a culture problem. It has a leadership problem, starting with Biden.
Good riddance.https://t.co/KzCTfqHDaB
— Border Patrol Union – NBPC (@BPUnion) November 11, 2022
Chaos at U.S. Southern Border Only Getting Worse
As CBN News reported last month, the numbers show the ongoing chaos at the U.S. southern border is only getting worse. The latest data shows the number of illegal crossings over the last year is quickly approaching the stunning 3 million mark.
“The border is not secure. We know that for a fact,” said Chris Olivarez, a spokesman from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
In the fiscal year 2022, there were nearly 2.4 million illegal crossings. That is a 37% spike from the same time a year ago and it does not include the hundreds of thousands more who got away.
“Last year 400,000 gotaways. This year 600,000 gotaways. You put that together and that’s 1,000,000 people who made it to the interior undetected,” Olivarez said.
Magnus rankled some rank-and-file agents — and delighted agency critics — with his announcement in May that he was revisiting guidelines for agents to use vehicles after a spate of fatal collisions, according to The Associated Press.
In July, Magnus released an investigation that said Border Patrol agents on horseback engaged in “unnecessary use of force” against Haitians at a massive camp in Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021. The investigation also cleared the agents, discovering they did not use their reins to whip the Haitians.
Over his 43-year career in law enforcement, Magnus had served as a sheriff’s deputy, police captain and had also been the chief of police departments in Fargo, ND; Richmond, CA; and Tuscon, AZ.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN