Border Patrol chief Michael Banks resigns after DHS leadership change

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Michael Banks, the head of U.S. Border Patrol, announced Thursday that he is resigning, effective immediately, in the latest change among officials implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the resignation, according to an Associated Press report.

In an interview with Fox News, Banks was quoted as saying, “It’s just time,” and adding that he “feel[s] like I got the ship back on course,” describing what he said was previous chaos at the southern border. Banks also said it was “time to enjoy the family and life,” the report said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott issued a statement thanking Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security.” The report said the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was not immediately clear who would replace Banks. AP reported that Banks had been a prominent figure in the administration’s high-profile border enforcement efforts, while remaining less visible than some other officials, including Gregory Bovino, a now-retired commander who had become a public face of the crackdown.

The resignation arrives as DHS, which oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, moves through leadership changes. Banks’ departure came two months after Markwayne Mullin, a former Republican senator from Oklahoma, became homeland security secretary. Around the same time, AP said ICE is also in transition, with acting ICE director Todd Lyons set to leave later this month and be replaced by David Venturella, a former private-contractor employee who returned to government service.

Border Patrol’s role in the administration’s immigration operations also extends beyond the border. AP reported that CBP participated since last year in immigration enforcement operations conducted primarily in cities governed by Democrats, a shift that, the report said, triggered a spike in arrests and was followed by the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year at the hands of federal immigration officers.

Banks returned to Border Patrol last year after a long career in the agency that, AP reported, had not previously placed him in its senior ranks. His star rose under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a period when illegal crossings reached record highs and the state launched a multibillion-dollar enforcement surge that led to turf battles with the Biden administration.

AP also reported that Banks kept a relatively low public profile as arrests for illegal crossings fell to their lowest levels since the mid-1960s—an overall trend that began toward the end of the Biden administration. The report said Banks did not appear publicly at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix this month, an annual conference where government officials update contractors on border conditions. Scott, his supervisor, was described as acting more as the agency’s public face.

Banks, who AP said grew up in Warner Robins, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, said in a past interview published on the CBP website that his first job was picking peaches at an orchard when he was 14, and that he worked with migrant farm workers. In that interview, AP said, he described learning “compassion and humility” and said he was “honored” to have returned to the agency.

“The United States Border Patrol will be unapologetic in its enforcement of our nation’s laws,” Banks said in the CBP interview, AP reported.