Border Patrol Chief Abruptly Resigns

Mike Banks is stepping down as chief of the US Border Patrol, effective immediately. He announced the move in an interview with Fox News. "It's just time," he told correspondent Bill Melugin. "I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure this country has ever seen," he said. Banks, a Navy veteran who joined the Border Patrol in 2000 and was sworn in as its leader days after President Trump returned to office last year, said it was time to "enjoy the family and life."

• Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott praised Banks' "decades of service" and called this his "second retirement," noting he returned to lead the agency during a particularly difficult stretch for border security.

• During his time as Border Patrol chief, Banks oversaw closer coordination with ICE and an expansion of prosecutions for illegal border crossings, the AP reports. His departure comes around two months after Markwayne Mullin replaced Kristi Noem as head of Homeland Security, which oversees both CBP and ICE.
• CNBC reports that his exit comes roughly six weeks after the Washington Examiner, citing six unnamed current and former Border Patrol employees, reported that Banks had previously boasted about paying for sex while traveling abroad. CBP said those claims were more than a decade old, had been reviewed, and the matter "was closed," while stressing it takes misconduct allegations seriously. The agency has not said whether the accusations played any role in Banks' abrupt resignation.