Trump’s Border Patrol Chief Abruptly Resigns

President Donald Trump’s Border Patrol chief announced his immediate resignation Thursday, multiple agency sources told The Daily Wire.

Mike Banks confirmed his exit from the agency to Fox News, but didn’t offer a clear reason for his departure.

“It’s just time,” Banks told the news outlet.

“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,” he said. “Time to pass the reins, 37 years, it’s time to enjoy the family and life,” he said.

Banks, who previously served as the Texas “border czar,” led the agency through record low illegal border crossings.

In a message to agents Thursday, Banks celebrated the Trump administration’s accomplishments of securing the border.

“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 again 100 times over. What we have accomplished together in the last year and a half is nothing short of amazing,” Banks said.

“You, the men and women of the Border Patrol took the United States border from the most chaotic and unsecured border in the history of this great Nation and have delivered the most secure border this country has ever seen. 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 closer than we have ever been to achieving that goal,” he added.

Multiple Border Patrol sources said they didn’t see Banks’ exit coming.

One source said that they were “caught off guard” by the news of his departure.

Banks was previously accused of making regular trips abroad to have sex with prostitutes and bragging about it to colleagues, the Washington Examiner reported in April.

The National Border Patrol Council, the agency’s union, confirmed that “an allegation was made, was investigated, and the subject was cleared of any misconduct, and yes, he is now in charge of 20,000+ USBP employees,” according to the Washington Examiner.

Paul Perez, the union’s president, said Banks had “held senior-level managers accountable, where previous chiefs did not, thereby creating a long list of enemies with an axe to grind.”

“That someone would anonymously dredge up some unfounded allegation as a means to smear Banks today shows how desperate they are to prevent him from holding people accountable for doing their jobs,” Perez said.

Banks’ departure also comes less than two months after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin assumed leadership of the department, which oversees Border Patrol.

Mullin assumed the role after Trump demoted Kristi Noem, who was embroiled in multiple scandals.

During her time as secretary, Noem deployed then-Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to lead aggressive immigration sweeps across the country, making him the face of the mass deportation campaign.

Following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration authorities, Trump put border czar Tom Homan at the helm of the operations, replacing Bovino, who eventually retired.

Banks first joined Border Patrol in 2000 after serving ten years in the U.S. Navy.

He said he now plans to “return home to Texas to focus on my family and ranch.”