Chris Magnus resigns as chief of US Customs and Border Protection

President Biden’s embattled border security czar resigned on Saturday after being given an ultimatum to either resign or be fired – as a migrant crisis rages on the US-Mexico border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection chief Chris Magnus submitted a letter of resignation just a day after saying he was staying despite Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkos’ request on Wednesday that he leave or be fired.

“It has been a privilege and an honor to be part of your administration,” Magnus, 61, wrote in a letter to Biden.

The White House issued a statement announcing the resignation, thanking Magnus for his service and wishing him well.

“President Biden appreciates the nearly forty years of Commissioner Magnus’ service and the contributions he made to police reform during his tenure as police chief in three U.S. cities,” Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The resignation comes less than a year after the US Senate confirmed Magnus as a major restructuring at Homeland Security begins amid migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border.

A record number of encounters with migrants was recorded on the US southern border, exceeding 2 million for the first time in August — a mark double the 2019 high, the highest level during the Trump administration, the Associated Press reported. There, 2.38 million migrants stopped at the border in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 37% increase from a year earlier, the AP said.

Magnus told the Los Angeles Times in a statement on Friday that he would not be stepping down after the newspaper first reported the ultimatum. He told the newspaper: “I am delighted with the progress I have made and look forward to continuing this work.”

The call for his resignation came after Politico reported that the Border Patrol chief had missed or overslept meetings about the border crisis and routinely blasted other agencies with colleagues.

Republicans, who appear poised to take control of the House of Representatives in January, are expected to examine border issues.

With postal wires