U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks quit on Thursday, the latest in a string of top immigration officials to depart.
Chief Banks announced his resignation, effective immediately, to Fox News.
“It’s just time,” he told the network.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons is also on the way out, and the Department of Homeland Security is being run by Secretary Markwayne Mullin after President Trump booted Kristi Noem from the position.
The Border Patrol is part of Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency that is responsible for guarding the boundaries and manning ports of entry.
Chief Banks had been with CBP for about two decades, left during the Biden administration and then returned in the new Trump administration.
“I feel like I got the shop back on course,” he told Fox News.
The number of illegal immigrants detected crossing the border is at an all-time low, and the Border Patrol has gone for nearly a year without a single catch-and-release at the southern border.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott hailed Chief Banks for helping usher the border “from chaos to the most secure border ever recorded.”
“We thank U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks for his decades of service to this country and congratulate him on his second retirement after returning to serve during one of the most challenging periods for border security,” Mr. Scott said.
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