Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayankas asked U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner to help him or her. U. S. Secretary of State Chris Magnus, who steps down this week after months of frustration with his leadership, a senior Department of Homeland Security official familiar with the matter told CBS News.
In an email, Magnus showed CBS News that he had been asked to resign.
Magnus, the former Tucson, Arizona, police leader, had a strained relationship with the Border Patrol, a CBP firm that has apprehended a record number of migrants along the U. S. -Mexico border over the past year, said the DHS official, who requested anonymity. talk about internal problems.
Troy Miller, a longtime CBP official, has been overseeing the agency’s day-to-day operations for some time amid internal considerations about Magnus’ leadership, the official added.
DHS and White House officials responded to requests for comment.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Friday, Magnus said he had no plans to resign. “I am excited about the progress I have made and look forward to continuing this work,” Magnus told the newspaper.
Magnus said he pleaded his case when Mayorkas and his deputy, John Tien, asked him to resign: “I told him I felt there was no justification for resigning when I still cared deeply about the paintings I did and felt the paintings were aimed at the things I had been hired to do in the first place. “
The internal clash between Magnus and DHS leadership comes as the branch faces demanding primary operational and humanitarian situations along the U. S. -Mexico border, where CBP recorded nearly 2. 4 million encounters with unauthorized migrants in fiscal year 2022, a 12-month era that ended in September. 1. 30.
Confirmed by Congress in December 2021, Magnus has been a CBP commissioner for less than a year. As the largest federal law enforcement agency, CBP is to secure U. S. borders. Facilitate industry and legal travel, and prevent access of drugs and illicit goods to the country.