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WASHINGTON — The Customs and Border Safety commissioner mentioned Friday that he had been requested to step down however was refusing to take action, in what seems to be the Biden administration’s first tried shake-up after the midterm elections.
The commissioner, Chris Magnus, who oversees a lot of the customs and commerce coverage and the nation’s borders, mentioned each Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland safety secretary, and the division’s deputy secretary requested him to resign or face being the primary political appointee to be fired by President Biden. Mr. Magnus has been within the place for lower than a 12 months.
In an announcement, Mr. Magnus mentioned, “I’ve no plans to resign as C.B.P. commissioner,” in line with a duplicate he shared with The New York Instances.
Mr. Magnus, 62, plans to go to work on Monday, he mentioned. He added that the division already lower off his entry to its Twitter account.
The Homeland Safety Division declined to remark.
Mr. Biden tapped Mr. Magnus, a former police chief, to run Customs and Border Safety, one of many largest legislation enforcement companies on the earth that has lengthy been criticized for its lack of accountability. He’s additionally the primary overtly homosexual commissioner of C.B.P.
Mr. Magnus mentioned he was advised that Mr. Mayorkas had misplaced confidence in him and that the president will help Mr. Mayorkas. Some officers have mentioned Mr. Magnus just isn’t engaged sufficient within the job and never doing sufficient to deal with the excessive variety of unlawful border crossings.
Only a few months into the Biden administration, the variety of unlawful crossings on the southwestern border began to extend, they usually have since damaged data, drawing relentless Republican criticism.
It’s a scenario that has weighed closely on the White Home as a political vulnerability, even throughout a time when there are extra displaced individuals world wide than ever earlier than. Many who come to the USA by crossing the border illegally are fleeing violence and political instability.
Home Republicans have mentioned they plan to question Mr. Mayorkas in the event that they take management of the Home. They blame him for what they see as an absence of management on the southwestern border.
Mr. Mayorkas is scheduled to look earlier than a number of congressional committees subsequent week.
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