Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs The incoming Trump administration is planning to install Texas’ border czar as head of U.S. Border Patrol, replacing the career official who currently leads the agency in charge of stopping the illicit movement of migrants and drugs.Mike Banks, who has spearheaded Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border crackdown, is expected to be appointed Border Patrol chief after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office, two sources familiar with the move told CBS News Thursday.Banks would replace current Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, a 28-year veteran career official at the agency. Owens is set to retire from government service in April, two U.S. officials told CBS News.In an internal message sent to agents Thursday and obtained by CBS News, Owens said the opportunity to serve as Border Patrol chief was “the highest honor I have ever received.””Looking ahead, I will leave with a profound sense of optimism about its future and that of our country,” Owens wrote. “I will take comfort knowing that you are on our frontline, standing between the innocent and the evil.”
Banks’ appointment would be a departure from the general practice of Border Patrol having leaders that are career government officials, not political appointees.A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection official, Banks has been a key player in Texas’ aggressive effort to counter what the state has argued is the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border amid record levels of migrant crossings.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, left, listens as Texas border czar Mike Banks comments on the potential increase of illegal immigration from Venezuela during a press conference on Sept. 16, 2024, at the DPS Southeast Texas Regional Headquarters in Houston.
Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
Since March 2021, Texas has bussed tens of thousands of migrants to major Democratic-led U.S. cities, deployed the National Guard to fortify the banks of the Rio Grande with razor wire and assigned troopers to arrest migrants on criminal trespassing charges. It also tried to enact its own immigration law to arrest and jail migrants suspected of entering the country illegally, though that measure is currently held up in court.
As Border Patrol chief, Banks would oversee the agents in green uniforms responsible for apprehending migrants who cross into the U.S. illegally between official entry points, or those who reach Florida and other coastal sectors by sea. Over the past years, discontent among rank-and-file agents has grown over disagreements with the Biden administration’s immigration policies.One U.S. official said Banks is expected to join the second Trump administration in some capacity soon after Trump is inaugurated, alongside Rodney Scott, who the president-elect has tapped to be his CBP commissioner.Scott was a Border Patrol chief himself, appointed under the first Trump administration, until he was ousted by the Biden administration in the spring of 2021. As CBP commissioner, Scott would oversee Border Patrol, but also customs and immigration officials at airports, sea ports and land crossings. That position requires Senate confirmation.Beyond Banks and Scott, the incoming Trump administration also plans to install Tom Homan, a longtime Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, as its border czar, a new White House position. Homan is expected to play a key role in carrying out what Trump has promised will be the largest deportation operation in American history.During the first three years of the Biden administration, CBP reported record levels of migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, and officials struggled at times to contain mass illegal crossings. But unlawful border crossings have since plunged to a four-year low due to asylum limits President Biden enacted in June, and Mexico’s efforts to stop migrants from trekking north.
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Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.
