Top border official says he was requested to resign

The Customs and Border Protection commissioner stated Friday that he had been requested to step down however was refusing to take action, in what seems to be the Biden administration’s first tried shake-up after the midterm elections.

The commissioner, Chris Magnus, stated each Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland safety secretary, and the division’s deputy secretary requested him to resign or face being the primary political appointee to be fired by President Joe Biden. Magnus has been within the place for lower than a 12 months.

“I want to make this clear: I have no plans to resign as CBP commissioner,” Magnus, the top of the company, stated in a press release shared with The New York Times. He stated the Department of Homeland Security minimize off his entry to his Customs and Border Protection Twitter account. Magnus, 62, stated he intends to go to work Monday.

As commissioner of the company, Magnus oversees border insurance policies starting from unlawful crossings to reliable customs and commerce. He additionally oversees the U.S. Border Patrol, which has a union that has been outspoken in its dislike of the Biden administration, the Homeland Security secretary and Magnus, over border safety administration.

Magnus stated Mayorkas informed him earlier this week that he wanted to resign as a result of he had misplaced confidence in him, partly as a result of he was making issues tough for Raul Ortiz, the chief of the Border Patrol. Magnus didn’t give Ortiz a bonus and ask him to remain on past his approaching retirement. Magnus stated that call was based mostly on Ortiz’s refusal to comply with his instructions to place in place a number of of his insurance policies.

The message from the secretary, Magnus stated, was that Ortiz is a vital determine at a time when the nation is dealing with main border enforcement and immigration coverage points.

The Department of Homeland Security, the White House and Ortiz declined to remark.

Magnus’ refusal to resign and the bizarre public disclosure of the ordeal uncovered the extraordinary problem the Biden administration has confronted throughout a interval of record-breaking unlawful border crossings and inside strife over learn how to learn how to take care of it. For months earlier than the midterm elections, the White House had sought to keep away from publicly addressing the border, viewing it as a political vulnerability with no simple resolution.

The request for Magnus’ resignation comes as Democrats have been having fun with a wave of aid after the elections, when they didn’t lose as many seats as many observers had anticipated. Despite issues that the state of affairs on the border can be a prime concern for voters, exit polling prompt inflation and abortion have been extra salient.

Mayorkas, whom Republicans have pledged to question in the event that they regain management of the House, is scheduled to look earlier than a number of committees subsequent week on Capitol Hill.

The Border Patrol union, which represents about 90% of brokers eligible to belong, has additionally known as for Mayorkas to be impeached. The union president, Brandon Judd, stated members assist Magnus’ elimination as nicely.

In 2021, Biden tapped Magnus, a former police chief with a repute for bringing reform and tradition modifications, to run Customs and Border Protection, one of many largest legislation enforcement businesses on this planet with greater than 60,000 workers. He is the primary brazenly homosexual commissioner of the company.

The Los Angeles Times first reported that Magnus had been requested to resign.

A report by Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee in October 2021 discovered that Customs and Border Protection has tended to dole out lighter self-discipline to reprimanded brokers than what was beneficial by its self-discipline evaluation board. The Border Patrol, particularly, has come beneath fireplace for a tradition through which discrimination and mistreatment of migrants have endured.

Multiple administrations have tried to implement extra accountability onto the company and add layers of oversight.

But when Magnus took the helm of Customs and Border Protection eight months after he was nominated, the company was within the midst of attempting to handle a spike in unlawful migration on the southwestern border in the course of the pandemic, which posed overwhelming operational challenges for border officers. Campaign guarantees to repeal the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration insurance policies and rein in Border Patrol brokers appeared to evaporate.

Border Patrol brokers, who’re the primary line of protection on the nation’s worldwide borders, are among the many division’s most outspoken critics of Mayorkas’ and the Biden administration’s insurance policies. Magnus stated insurance policies he has labored to advance have been weighed towards how a lot they’d harm the already low morale on the company.

Last month, a Politico article described a sample of an absence of engagement on Magnus’ half, citing nameless administration officers. They stated he missed key conferences or fell asleep throughout them, and was too centered on overhauling the Border Patrol. Magnus disclosed to Politico that he has a number of sclerosis, however he has pushed again towards accusations that he’s not engaged. He stated that he had beforehand informed senior officers on the division about his situation however that it was not broadly recognized.

Judd stated that he was sympathetic to Magnus’ well being points however that they gave the impression to be limiting his skill to run the company.

“If you’re not physically able to perform the functions, you shouldn’t be performing as the commissioner,” Judd stated.

After the Politico article was revealed, Magnus stated that it turned clear to him that he was being set as much as take the blame for the state of affairs on the border and that the function of commissioner gave the impression to be only a “figurehead” publish.

He stated he took the job with the path to convey change to the company. But when he tried to do this, he was solely met with pushback.

“This is not a place that is willing to tackle change,” Magnus stated Friday in an interview with the Times.