Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus is under fire from at least five officials in President Joe Biden’s administration who work with him.
One official said: “He’s not in the game. Every time there’s a meeting and he’s in it, we’ll get to a conclusion and Magnus will have some sidebar issue that he wants to raise and we’re all like ‘What the fuck is that about?’”
Some of these officials described Magnus as an unprofessional boss who does not do his job or prioritizes the issues. From Politico:
Five current administration officials who work with CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus portrayed him as unengaged in his job, saying he often doesn’t attend White House meetings on the situation on the border, badmouths other agencies to colleagues and superiors, and has not built relationships within CBP and across other agencies to address the influx of migrants at the border. They complain he is unfamiliar with some of the operations of CBP and instead is focused primarily on reforming the culture of the Border Patrol, addressing its long list of allegations of racism and violence.Some of the officials believe Magnus hasn’t prioritized addressing the high number of migrants attempting to cross the border, but instead has continually tried to shift blame to other agencies. As an example, two of the five current administration officials said Magnus brought his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pages of grievances about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While CBP is responsible for securing U.S. borders at and between ports of entry, ICE is the agency responsible for arresting and detaining undocumented people within U.S. borders.—Magnus also made the case that his critics were either unfair or uninformed. Six of those internal critics, for example, remarked to POLITICO that they had seen Magnus fall asleep during multiple meetings, including one earlier this year on how to handle the current swell of Venezuelans crossing the border. Magnus explained to POLITICO that he experienced brief periods of tiredness as a side effect of his multiple sclerosis, the neurological condition he was diagnosed with 15 years ago; and that he adjusted medication levels to deal with those side effects.
As someone with rheumatoid arthritis and Sjorgen’s, it ticks me off when people use their autoimmune disorder as an excuse. The fatigue and brain fog is real and probably more annoying than the pain caused by the disease. Do not use it as an excuse. If it interferes with your job that much, then don’t do it.
Officials have seen Magnus send a deputy to sit in during meetings:
One former senior White House official said it was noticed among staff how often Magnus sent a deputy to sit in on high-level interagency calls about immigration. One of the current administration officials said Mayorkas, in turn, often relied upon CBP’s deputy commissioner, Troy Miller, or its chief of staff, Nathaniel Kaine, or Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz for help.“Operationally he’s not even in the conversation,” said the administration official. “He knows the border, but the ins-and-outs and the size and capabilities of CBP is pretty far outside his remit and understanding how to deal with other parts of the administration.”
We have found out that the majority of people traveling to the southern border come outside of Mexico and the Northern Triangle. They come from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The migrant influx has hit record highs since Biden took office in January 2021.
How about the drugs?
Magnus visited the border earlier this year. When he finished, he asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for an emergency meeting.
The topic was not the influx of migrants, lack of supplies and manpower, or the drug smugglers.
Magnus needed an urgent meeting to show Mayorkas a list of “complaints about ICE that he’d gathered during tour stops from the Border Patrol’s rank and file, according to one of the five administration officials, who was familiar with the meeting.”
Magnus defended himself in a statement:
In a statement, he acknowledged he has spent his 10 months on the job getting up to speed on the agency’s “many complex areas.” He noted CBP is an operational agency, not a policy-making one. But he added that he is “closely involved in the major DHS immigration, border security, trade, and other policy discussions.” And he defended the approach he has brought to the role.“I’ve always been someone who aggressively questions the status quo, looks for ways to do things better, and engages directly with the public and workforce,” he said. “In any organization, some people are threatened by this. They don’t like it when someone questions ‘why’ certain things must be done the way they’ve always been done. I’m not here to back down to the predictable challenges from those people.”—“Ironically, the most common complaint I’ve received from colleagues is about my tendency to ask too many questions in meetings and my desire to know what some believe is more than necessary on various topics,” he said, adding he intends “to remain fully engaged in the work of leading CBP and advocating on behalf of those who work here as well as for the American public.”
A DHS spokesperson also defended Magnus: “On border security, CBP is a critical component of the DHS-led $60 million anti-human smuggler campaign that has already led to 5,000 arrests with our partners, and we’re mobilizing additional personnel to support the Border Patrol. Commissioner Magnus plays a key role in all of this, and that’s where our focus remains.”
Then again, the entire Biden administration has a “meh” attitude about the border. They’ve repeatedly shown that the narrative is more important than facts.
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