Border Patrol Chief initially refuses DHS Secretary’s request to turn in his resignation

The Chief of US Customs and Border Patrol has resigned after initially refusing a request to do so this week from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking him to resign from his position amid tension over border policy and extremely high numbers of migrants arriving at the southern border with Mexico.

Mayorkas reportedly sent a letter to CBP Chief Chris Magnus earlier this week telling him to either submit his resignation or face termination. 

Magnus responded to the letter in a written statement to several news outlets on Friday saying he has no intention of resigning from his post.

“I want to make this clear: I have no plans to resign as CBP Commissioner,” Magnus said. “I didn’t take this job as a resume builder. I came to Washington, DC — moved my family here — because I care about this agency, its mission, and the goals of this Administration.”

Magnus told the Los Angeles Times he had told Mayorkas, “I expressed to him that I felt there was no justification for me to resign when I still cared deeply about the work I was doing and felt that that work was focused on the things I was hired to do in the first place.” 

The USCBP reports 230,000 border encounters in the month of September. Many were turned away under Title 42, which restricts asylum seekers during times of health crises and has been in place since the start of COVID-19.