US Border Patrol chief abruptly resigns in latest Trump team shake-up
Michael Banks exits effective immediately as the Trump administration recalibrates its mass deportation strategy
The head of US Border Patrol, the agency tasked with securing the nation’s frontiers and increasingly tapped by the Trump administration for immigration operations in American cities, announced his resignation on Thursday.
Michael Banks’ decision, announced in a Fox News interview and later confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, was the latest leadership shake-up of officials implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and came as the Republican administration appeared to be recalibrating its approach to its centerpiece policy of mass deportations.
“It’s just time,” Banks was quoted as saying in a report on the Fox News website, which said the resignation was effective immediately. “I feel like I got the ship back on course,” he said, referring to what he described as previous chaos at the southern border. Banks said it was “time to enjoy the family and life”.
In a statement, the US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Rodney Scott, thanked Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security”.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not clear who would replace Banks. He led an agency at the forefront of Trump’s high-profile immigration enforcement efforts but kept a lower profile than some other officials such as Gregory Bovino, a now-retired commander who became a public face of the immigration crackdown.
