Senate confirms Chris Magnus as 1st full Customs and Border Protection chief in 2 years


The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus as U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner in a 50-47 vote, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joining 49 Democrats and allied independents. President Biden nominated Magnus, 61, in April, and he will be the first Senate-confirmed leader of the largest U.S. law enforcement agency since 2019.
Before being hired as Tucson police chief in 2016, Magnus worked in Fargo, North Dakota, and Richmond, California. "Wherever Chris Magnus goes, he leaves the place better," Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum think tank, tells The Washington Post. At CBP, "he'll bring creativity and leadership to a position that needs it."
CBP has been hammered by a sharp increase in immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border over the past 10 months, with agents processing 1.7 million border arrests in the fiscal year that ended in September. Republican senators who opposed his nomination argued he would not enforce immigration laws vigorously enough. In response, Magnus said he prides himself "on being a pragmatic and bipartisan problem-solver," and told senators immigration is a personal issue for him, since he's the son of a Norwegian immigrant and his husband, Terrance Cheung, came to the U.S. from Hong Kong.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Trump’s deportations are changing how we think about food
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The Department of Labor’s admission that immigration raids have affected America’s food supplies reopens a longstanding debate
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia James
Speed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Judge blocks Trump’s Guard deployment in Chicago
Speed Read The president is temporarily blocked from federalizing the Illinois National Guard or deploying any Guard units in the state
-
Trump urges jail for Illinois, Chicago leaders
Speed Read The Texas National Guard begin operations in the Chicago area
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rights
The Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland