Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus to step down or be fired, with Magnus telling the Los Angeles Times he does not plan on resigning from his post.
"I am excited about the progress I made and look forward continuing that work," he told the Times.
CNN has confirmed the power struggle between Mayorkas and Magnus. It unknown publicly at this time why Mayorkas is asking for Magnus' resignation less than a year into his tenure.
Magnus had previously served as police chief in Tucson, Arizona before President Joe Biden tapped him to be head of CBP, which has faced a difficult two years as the agency has been at the forefront of the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. CBP recorded over 2.3 million encounters with illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2022, with hundreds of thousands of gotaways becuase Border Patrol agents are being bogged down with those who willingly turn themselves in to law enforcement,.
There were questions about Magnus' qualifications for the position as he had no previous federal law enforcement experience.
"I’ve said from day one he was simply not qualified. He was a small town cop most of his career and acted more like a social activist than a chief," former CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan, who is now a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Townhall.
"He had never held a federal executive position and knows nothing about CBP’s world-wide vast and complex mission. He went from a department of a few hundred to largest federal law enforcement agency in the country. He’s over his head," Morgan continued. "And rather than focus his efforts to counter the worst border crisis in our lifetime, as expected, he’s going after the Border Patrol. He let his ego and ideology accept a position he had no qualifications for."