U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks resigned Thursday, becoming the latest top immigration official to leave the Trump administration in recent months.
“It’s just time,” Banks said in a Fox News interview announcing his resignation. “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.”
“We thank U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks for his decades of service to this country and congratulate him on his second retirement after returning to serve during one of the most challenging periods for border security,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told MS NOW in a statement. “During his time as Chief, the border was transformed from chaos to the most secure border ever recorded. We wish him and his family well.”
Banks is the latest in a string of senior immigration officials to resign or be removed from the second Trump administration. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was dismissed in March, while CBP Commander Gregory Bovino was demoted from his position after leading the deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Bovino has since retired.
Banks’ abrupt resignation came weeks after the Washington Examiner reported that the official regularly paid for sex with prostitutes during trips abroad and “bragged” about the encounters to colleagues while serving in a position of authority at the agency. The Examiner cited six current and former Border Patrol employees with knowledge of the matter.
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According to the Examiner, the allegations were said to have been investigated twice by Customs and Border Protection officials.
A CBP spokesperson told the Examiner that the “matter was closed,” adding that the reports of Banks’ behavior “date back more than a decade and were reviewed years ago.”
Banks did not cite the allegations as reason for his resignation.
Banks oversaw President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies along the southern U.S. border and played a central role in expanding prosecutions for unlawful crossings after being appointed to the position in 2025.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.