U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks abruptly resigned on Thursday.
“It’s just time,” he told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin. “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. Time to pass the reigns, 37 years, it’s time to enjoy the family and life.”
Banks wrote in an email obtained by reporters that it has been the “honor of my lifetime to serve this great country.” He wrote that it was “never a goal of mine to become the Chief of the United States Border Patrol, but given the opportunity I would do it 100 times over.”
“Let me be clear there’s still lots of work to be done to achieve complete operational control of the Border, but I know we are close than we have ever been to achieving that goal,” Banks added. “After over 37 years in public service to the people of the United States of America, it is time for me to retire and return home to Texas to focus on my family and ranch.”
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement on Banks’ resignation, “We thank U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks for his decades of service to this country and congratulate him on his second retirement after returning to serve during one of the most challenging periods for border security. During his time as Chief, the border was transformed from chaos to the most secure border ever recorded. We wish him and his family well.”
Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino retired in March. In an interview with Breitbart, Bovino said, “The greatest honor of my entire life was to work alongside Border Patrol agents on the border and in the interior of the United States in some of the most challenging conditions the agency has ever faced.” He added, “Watching these agents out there giving it their all in some of the most dangerous of environments we have ever faced was humbling.”
