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.
Subscribe to 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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in 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.
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Crossword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
IMF sees slump from tariffs, Trump tries to calm markets
Speed Read The International Monetary Fund predicts the U.S. and global economies will slow significantly due to the president's trade war
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
DHS chief Kristi Noem's purse stolen from eatery
Speed Read Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's purse was stolen while she dined with family at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Trump stands by Hegseth amid ouster reports
Speed Read The president dismissed reports that he was on the verge of firing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over a second national security breach
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Hegseth reportedly shared war plans in 2nd group text
Speed Read The defense secretary sent information about an attack in Yemen to a Signal group chat that included his wife and brother
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
El Salvador's CECOT prison becomes Washington's go-to destination
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Republicans and Democrats alike are clamoring for access to the Trump administration's extrajudicial deportation camp — for very different reasons
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Supreme Court takes up Trump birthright appeal
Speed Read The New Jersey Attorney General said a constitutional right like birthright citizenship 'cannot be turned on or off at the whims of a single man'
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Court slams Trump, senator visits Ábrego García
Speed Read The case 'should be shocking not only to judges' but all Americans with an 'intuitive sense of liberty'
By Peter Weber, The Week US