US Border Patrol chief Michael Banks is resigning, in latest DHS leadership change
Source: AP
Updated 2:00 PM EDT, May 14, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) The head of U.S. Border Patrol, the agency tasked with securing the nations frontiers and increasingly tapped by the Trump administration for immigration operations in American cities, announced his resignation Thursday.
Michael Banks decision, announced in a Fox News interview and later confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, is the latest leadership shake-up of officials implementing President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown and comes as the Republican administration appears to be recalibrating its approach.
Its just time, Banks was quoted as saying in a report on the Fox News website. 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. In a statement, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Rodney Scott, thanked Banks for his service during one of the most challenging periods for border security.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear who will replace Banks. He led an agency at the forefront of Trumps high-profile immigration enforcement efforts but kept a lower profile than some other officials such as Gregory Bovino, a now-retired commander who became a public face of the city operations.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/border-patrol-chief-michael-banks-immigration-846fb883c40bb4643a81e73139249482
riversedge
(81,501 posts)US border patrol chief resigns abruptly amid string of exits by Trump immigration officials
Mike Banks, who led Trumps border crackdown, resigned weeks after reports of prostitution allegations
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/14/us-border-patrol-chief-resigns?CMP=us_bsky&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1778778954-1
Joseph Gedeon Thu 14 May 2026 13.41 EDT
Mike Banks, the border patrol chief who oversaw the most aggressive militarization of the US southern border in recent history, has resigned with immediate effect.
Its just time, Banks told Fox News in an interview. I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, most disastrous, most chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen.
...........
The resignation comes weeks after the Washington Examiner reported that six current and former border patrol employees had accused Banks of regularly paying for sex with prostitutes during trips to Colombia and Thailand over more than a decade, and bragging about it to colleagues.
The behavior was said to have been investigated twice by CBP officials, with one inquiry reportedly ending abruptly while the former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem was in office..................................
riversedge
(81,501 posts)Trump's Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks just resigned the latest top immigration official to leave the Trump admin in recent months.
4:21 PM · May 14, 2026
Trump's Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks just resigned â the latest top immigration official to leave the Trump admin in recent months.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) 2026-05-14T21:21:01.367Z
𝐹𝑜𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒
@forthelove143.bsky.social
· 26m
amid allegations he traveled abroad to solicit sex workers.