Border Patrol agents have reportedly taken another blow to their morale with the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Joe Biden’s pick to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP), whom critics fear will undermine border security.
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Chris Magnus, the former police chief of Tucson, Arizona, to serve as CBP Commissioner.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican to vote for Magnus, whose support for sanctuary cities, along with other controversies, drew concern from the GOP caucus.
Magnus “is pretty much hated, especially by those of us in the Tucson Sector since we know him,” one border agent said to Fox News. “Somehow he has made a career off of hating law enforcement. He destroyed TPD [Tucson Police Department] and will do the same to CBP as a whole.”
“Morale within Border Patrol is so low we expect absolutely nothing different than the elevation and appointments of people that are against a secure border,” another agent said. ”Magnus is just par for the course under this administration.”
Back when Magnus was police chief of Richmond, California, a photo of him holding a Black Lives Matter sign was widely circulated.
Despite his support for leftist causes and “community policing,” Magnus has at times found himself accused of racism. In 2006, he was sued for racial discrimination by seven high-ranking black members of the department. A three-month trial in 2012 ended with the jury rejecting all claims.
In 2015, an Asian-American former police officer sued the city of Richmond for wrongful dismissal, partly on grounds of claimed racial prejudice by Magnus and initially also claiming that Magnus, who is gay, had sexually harassed him. A judge dismissed most of the charges and issued a summary judgment in the city’s favor on the remaining claims.
In 2017, Magnus’ Tucson department declined to assist Border Patrol agents pursuing an escaped detainee and even evicted the Border Patrol agents from Tucson PD facilities, where they had established a task force to track down the escapee.
Also in 2017, Magnus authored a New York Times op-ed arguing that the actions of President Trump and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to crack down on sanctuary cities would be harmful to policing.
“The confirmation of Chris Magnus completes the Biden Administration’s operational plan to destroy the most secure border we ever had under President Trump,” former Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said.
“The heroic men and women of the Border Patrol deserved better and the Democrats with help from Susan Collins showed their contempt for those that put their lives on the line to protect this great nation while we sleep.”
Magnus notably deleted his Twitter account ahead of the confirmation vote.
CBP’s rank-and-file has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with the decisions of the Biden White House.
In September, Biden condemned agents in Del Rio, Texas, over false claims that they were “whipping” Haitian migrants who were crossing en masse over the southern border into Texas.
Even the New York Times, which first reported on the alleged “whipping,” found itself forced to correct the record.
The U.S. Border Patrol has already surpassed the total number of migrant apprehensions made in any year along the southwest border since the agency’s creation in 1924. The figure has reportedly reached 1,646,000 for the year.
Breitbart News notes the increase in apprehensions that took place in November:
Apprehension of migrants by Border Patrol agents across the U.S. jumped by about 1,000 from October to November, according to a CBP document reviewed by Breitbart Texas. The unofficially reported apprehension of more than 160,000 migrants in November represents an increase of more than 140 percent over the same month in 2020.
A second, higher-placed source within CBP told Breitbart Texas the apprehension of migrants by Border Patrol and CBP Office of Field Operations in November along the southwest border with Mexico jumped by approximately 10,000 between October and November. This would move the apprehension numbers from more than 164,000 in October to nearly 175,000 in November. These numbers are from unofficial reports and could be adjusted slightly in the final report due out later this month.
These numbers constitute a reversal from the downward trend that was seen under the Trump administration.
