Possible Leadership Changes Signaled at CBP
And, Venezuelans Forced Back to Mexico in El Paso
Good Morning friends,
Despite the “wait-and-see” atmosphere hanging over everything as we all await the results of the upcoming midterm elections, there are a few things that have popped up that deserve your attention— things that may be getting lost in the shuffle— pushed off the center stage and frontpage by the ongoing investigation into the incident involving Paul Pelosi in San Francisco.
We’ll start with a not-so-subtle signal that the White House may be about to do away with the current head of Customs and Border Protection. CBP is the umbrella organization that contains U.S. Customs, Border Patrol, and several other organizations. CBP in turn reports to Homeland Security.
The man’s name is Chris Magnus. And if your response to the name is: “Who?” You are not alone— and that may well be part of the problem.
A recent piece in Politico, of all places, spells it all out. The article was floated in front of the public in the middle of October, but didn’t seem to go anywhere. That does not translate into a stay of execution however— Magnus’s future may well be waiting for the election results too.
There’s a lot to it, but the piece basically describes Magnus as “detached,” painting a picture of an out-of-the-loop supervisor that may well be in over his head— focusing on the “culture” of the organization when his supervisors at the White House may well be wondering why he isn’t anywhere to be found while his organization threatens to burn to the ground.
As migrant encounters along the southern border continue to set records, frustration is mounting inside the Biden administration with the head of Customs and Border Protection.
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.
—Daniel Lippman, Reporter - Politico
What’s being described here isn’t the most unbelievable scenario. It’s actually quite common for managers promoted to points over their heads to focus on minor matters that they feel better able to cope with, while ignoring other, more pressing things that they may not know how to approach. It’s hard to blame Magnus if this is the case— much of what’s happening is the direct result of his supervisors’ actions, after all. How is he supposed to sort out mistakes that they’ve been determined to double down on?
We are speaking of course of White House immigration policies that critics say have directly contributed to the current free-for-all on the southern border.
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.
After a trip earlier this year to the border to meet with his Border Patrol colleagues, Magnus asked for an emergency meeting with Mayorkas and other senior DHS officials, during which he listed 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.
“He’s not in the game,” said another one of the administration officials. “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?’”
—Daniel Lippman, Reporter - Politico
Let’s back up a second— Lippman has 5 Federal Government sources all telling him this dirt on Magnus. That’s a pretty ridiculous number, even if they’re all anonymous.
We have no way of knowing who they are, but it might be fun to speculate: Could be anyone from Secretary Mayorkas or someone in his orbit, or even the present head of Border Patrol, fed up with the distractions of complaints about his agency, while they’re busy getting hammered trying to keep a semblance of order along the border.
It could also be a collection of assistants that all report to Magnus.
Just yesterday, Border Patrol Agents had to resort to riot control measures— firing pepper balls at an unruly crowd of Venezuelans in El Paso. More on that in just a bit.
From here, Lippman takes a polite dip into Magnus’ background as a former Police Chief, and out-and-proud homosexual and gay rights activist, who is also dealing with a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.
It’s the MS, supporters of Magnus say, that’s ultimately responsible for him repeatedly falling asleep during important meetings.
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.
—Daniel Lippman, Reporter - Politico
It seems incredibly unusual for such a negative piece to pop up in what most would assume is a sympathetic news organization like Politico. That rarity is what lends itself to speculation that the article is a bit of a trial balloon— a testing of the waters to see if there’ll be any kind of backlash or outrage if the White House does decide to dump and replace Magnus.
Given the way the story has almost come and gone without larger comment— one feels it’s very possible that Customs and Border Protection will be needing new leadership after the election.
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.
—Daniel Lippman, Reporter - Politico
If one wanted to speculate as to who might wind up replacing Magnus, those three names would probably be a good place to start.
You can probably cross Raul Ortiz’s name off the list. He’s busy at Border Patrol, and may also have a few strikes against him at the White House by now. That leaves Miller and Kaine. Of the two, Kaine may be more likely— just on the basis of his being the son of former Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine. He’s the guy that was running alongside Hillary Clinton in 2016, if you’ve forgotten. A lot of folks have.
The Elder Kaine is still in office as the Junior U.S. Senator from Virginia, and has some oversight over CBP and Homeland Security; serving on the Senate’s Armed Services and Budget Committees.
His son is also a Marine Corp reservist, with time served with something called “The Black Sea Rotational Force.”
The BSRF is a Marine Corp taskforce based in Romania— meant to form and maintain greater ties with regional militaries. It’s a timely posting, perhaps— given the situation in Ukraine.
Troy Miller, the other official mentioned above is perhaps best described as a U.S. Customs careerist, joining the organization in 1993 as a U.S. Customs Inspector.
Expect one or two other trial balloons on the subject before any decision is made. Trial balloons are also sometimes helpful in convincing an individual to resign.
We promised a look at the riot-control incident in El Paso. Here’s the video, inside a tweet by J. Omar Ornelas:
The video’s only about 15 seconds. You can hear helicopters overheard and some other noise, including, presumably the sound of the pepper balls being launched by agents.
It should be noted that the incident didn’t actually seem to rise to the level of a riot. It’s probably also worth noting that swift action is almost certainly what kept it from becoming anything truly serious.
Venezuelans are getting antsy and ornery in Mexico— forced to wait after announced changes in the way Border Patrol is handling illegal aliens from there.
And finally this morning— we’ve been hoping since last week that an update on the lady calling herself “Blue Monarch” would be possible. But there’s been no new developments.
Readers may recall reports of an anglo woman trespassing at the Spofford Rail Port in Kinney County, behaving “strangely aggressive” and identifying herself as “Blue Monarch.”
Given the lack of any further reports about her coming into the dispatch office, it seems likely that she’s somehow prevailed upon a private citizen help her out with a ride and a bus ticket, or a phone call to someone else willing to help, and has subsequently departed the area.
That’ll do it for now. We’ll be back again soon enough. Apologies if anyone is upset by the reprinting of some foul language in Politico’s reporting. We felt it was worth keeping intact, as it communicates the depth of frustration in Customs and Border Protection and helps underline how unusual this sort of an article truly is.
As always, this newsletter is produced independently of our day job with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, and should not be confused with any kind of an official communication by Kinney County government figures.
Edited to replace the word "If" with "it."
According to 'The Peter Principle" one is promoted to his highest level of incompetance. But then, we see that everywhere - don't we? Excuse the absence of PC as I'm from the old school of English grammar.