"Mike Banks has resigned as the head of the United States Border Patrol, in the latest turnover to hit President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement operations. On Thursday, Banks broke the announcement to Fox News, saying it's just time for him to leave. He also took credit for a decline in border crossings since Trump took office for a second term."
"“I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen,” Fox News quoted Banks as saying. “Time to pass the reigns [sic].” Banks's departure is the latest in a series of high-profile resignations for the Trump administration within the last few months."
"In March, for instance, the cabinet secretary in charge of DHS, Kristi Noem, was fired amid questions about her spending including $20m on an advertising campaign as well as her handling of immigration enforcement operations. Noem has since been reassigned to the Shield of the Americas, an initiative Trump launched to bolster security across the Americas."
"In April, Todd Lyons also announced he would be leaving his post as acting head of ICE, effective this month. Like Noem, Lyons had faced pressure from Trump to increase the number of immigrant detentions and deportations. Also like Noem, he had faced criticism for his staff's aggressive tactics during enforcement operations. In January, for instance, two US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good were shot dead by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge, an immigration crackdown in Minnesota."
Mike Banks resigned as head of the United States Border Patrol, describing it as the right time for him to leave and saying control should be passed on. He credited his tenure with a decline in border crossings since President Donald Trump began a second term. Banks’s departure followed other high-profile resignations affecting the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees US Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kristi Noem was fired as DHS cabinet secretary after questions about spending and immigration enforcement handling, then reassigned to the Shield of the Americas initiative. Todd Lyons announced he would leave as acting head of ICE, amid pressure to increase detentions and deportations and criticism of aggressive enforcement tactics, including a deadly shooting during Operation Metro Surge.
#us-border-patrol #immigration-enforcement #department-of-homeland-security #ice #trump-administration
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]