US Border Agency Director Chris Magnus Deported

By Mike Balsamo, Colleen Long, Elliot Spagat | | Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The chief of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been given the job of leading the nation’s largest law enforcement agency as illegal immigration climbs to the highest level ever recorded for a fiscal year, according to two people familiar with the matter. being kicked out of .

Chris Magnus, who has served as commissioner for less than a year, has been told to resign or be fired, according to two people briefed on the matter but who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. rice field.

This is part of a larger change expected at the Department of Homeland Security as officials struggle to control immigration from a wider range of countries, including Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Immigration was suspended 2.38 million times in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, a 37% year-on-year increase. The annual total surpassed 2 million for the first time in August, more than double his high in 2019 under Donald Trump.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, confirmed that Magnus has been kicked out.

The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the ultimatum. In a statement to the newspaper, Magnus said he was asked to resign or be fired by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas. He said he would not resign and defended his record.

Neither Customs and Border Protection nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment.

Confusion ensued as Republicans likely took control of the House in January and were expected to launch border investigations. Republicans argue that Biden’s policies are not working.

Trump-era asylum restrictions encourage retries, but flows are by any measure abnormally high. The figure reflects deteriorating economic and political conditions in more countries, the relative strength of the US economy, and uneven enforcement of asylum restrictions.

In June, the Biden administration agreed with Western Hemisphere leaders to help take in migrants fleeing their countries. Mexico began accepting Venezuelans who entered the United States illegally last month, but the measures so far haven’t made much of a difference.

“There have always been periods of immigration spikes in this country at different times for different reasons,” Magnus told the Associated Press last year. “But I don’t think anyone would argue that the numbers are high at the moment and we need to have as many different strategies as possible to deal with that number.”

Despite working in law enforcement for decades, Magnus was an outsider. As Chief of Police in Tucson, Arizona, he refused a federal grant to cooperate with border patrols with the agency he now leads, and is the leader of the regional border patrol, staffed by thousands of agents. I kept my distance.

Magnus has slammed some public agents and delighted agency critics by announcing that he’s revisiting guidelines for agents to track vehicles after a spate of fatal crashes in May. .

In July, Magnus said a Border Patrol agent on horseback carried out “unnecessary use of force” against Haitians at a large camp in Del Rio, Texas in September 2021, but with the reins. He published a survey that he did not flog.

The National Border Security Council has been tighter on criticizing Magnus than on Mallorcas, but union chairman Judd said he welcomed Magnus’ resignation.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Judd. “He was working on a policy that encouraged more criminal activity.

Magnus said that unnamed administration officials were unable to attend White House meetings, could not build relationships inside or outside the agency, could not even doze off at meetings, and were not involved with unnamed politicians. Magnus claimed to be heavily involved in immigration-related debates.

Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, Magnus has served as a paramedic, paramedic, sheriff’s deputy, and police chief. He was a police chief in Fargo, North Dakota. richmond, californiabefore starting work in Tucson in January 2016.

In Tucson, Magnus created programs to keep people off drugs, worked with nonprofits that helped homeless people, and overhauled the department’s use of force policy. openly criticized Trump’s policies making him more reluctant to share with

Roy Villarreal, chief of the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol from early 2019 to late 2020, sought an introduction meeting with Magnus, who was then Tucson police chief, but was never contacted, describing their lack of interaction as ” He called it a “clear sign.”

Spagat reported from San Diego.