President Biden plans to nominate Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus to head U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Administration officials said Magnus has “extensive experience in addressing immigration issues” because of his role as police chief in a “diverse city close to the U.S.-Mexican border,” in an announcement Monday from the White House. Officials also praised Magnus for developing a reputation as a “progressive police leader.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Magnus would oversee the Border Patrol and the customs officers at legal ports of entry, such as those in Nogales and Douglas.
The job includes managing a budget of roughly $15 billion and more than 60,000 employees who arrest migrants who cross the border illegally; catch drugs smuggled across the border; and search for counterfeit goods at ports of entry, as well as manage legal cross-border trade.
“This is really the honor of a lifetime, being appointed by the president,” Magnus said in an interview with the Arizona Daily Star. “It’s not something I expected, but it’s something I’m very excited about.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting and getting to know the senators, who have obviously a lot of interest in the issues we’re dealing with right now involving CBP and immigration in general,” Magnus said.
He would take the reins at CBP as tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border each month. In March, the Border Patrol reported more than 170,000 encounters at the border, including nearly 20,000 in the agency’s Tucson Sector.
Border encounters started rising in April 2020 and accelerated in the past few months, leading federal officials to scramble to find temporary housing for migrant families and unaccompanied children. That effort involves working with nonprofit organizations and local governments, as has been the case in recent months, as asylum-seeking families are released in Yuma and Pima counties.
Magnus would replace Troy Miller, the senior official performing the duties of CBP commissioner under Biden.
Miller started his career at CBP in 1993 and previously served as director of CBP’s New York Field Office and executive director of CBP’s main anti-terrorism organization, the National Targeting Center.
Magnus has been Tucson Police Department chief since 2016. Today, he oversees a department with about 800 officers. Last year, the department’s total budget was $181 million.
He started his law enforcement career in the Lansing, Michigan, police department and served as police chief in Fargo, North Dakota, and then in Richmond, California, before coming to Tucson.
Magnus, a registered Democrat, grew up in Lansing, the son of an immigrant from Oslo, Norway. He received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and his master’s degree in labor relations from Michigan State University, the White House said. Magnus attended the Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executives in State and Local Government program. He has been with his husband, Terrance Cheung, for 15 years.
Immigration objections
In recent years, Magnus publicly pushed back against some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Magnus wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in December 2017 in which he objected to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempt to withhold federal funding from local jurisdictions that did not agree with the administration’s approach to immigration.
“The message from Washington is that cities need to refocus on ‘law and order.’ Yet the harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric and Mr. Sessions’ reckless policies ignore a basic reality known by most good cops and prosecutors: If people are afraid of the police, if they fear they may become separated from their families or harshly interrogated based on their immigration status, they won’t report crimes or come forward as witnesses,” Magnus wrote.
In January 2020, Tucson Police Department officials opted out of Operation Stonegarden, a federal program that provides funds to local law enforcement for overtime and equipment associated with border-related activities. TPD had received those funds for more than a decade, including about $600,000 at the time it opted out of the program.
The Operation Stonegar-den program ran counter to TPD’s mission “and the expectation of the community we serve,” police officials said at the time. The move by TPD came after a dispute with federal officials about using some of the funds to pay for humanitarian aid for thousands of asylum seekers who were temporarily housed at Tucson shelters.
“Chief Magnus has always understood the importance of distinguishing the role of local law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement and how critical this is to protecting community trust,” Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said in a statement on Monday. “He has gained valuable experience serving as police chief of a major city here in the Borderlands.”
“As an established immigrant-welcoming community and in response to SB 1070, Mayor & Council directed a series of amendments to TPD’s General Orders that protect victims and witnesses of crimes from arbitrary immigration status inquiries, prohibit stops and detentions based on ‘suspicions’ of unlawful status, and other actions aimed at protecting the rights of our immigrant communities,” Romero, a Democrat, said. SB 1070 was Arizona’s strict immigration law, known as the “show us your papers” law, that sparked a national backlash in 2010.
Progressive reputation
Magnus’ nomination to the federal post comes a little less than a year after he offered to resign as Tucson’s police chief over his department’s handling of an in-custody death in April 2020 that led to a $2.9 million settlement with the deceased man’s family.
After City Manager Michael Ortega declined to accept the chief’s resignation, Magnus launched a reform effort that has drawn praise from police reform experts around the nation.
He invited a board of experts and community members known as a Sentinel Event Review Board, which are rarely used by police departments, to put TPD’s actions under a microscope in the April 2020 death and another in-custody death in March 2020. The process resulted in 53 recommendations for change. Many of the changes have been adopted.
The review group, assembled by TPD, was led by two nationally recognized experts in criminal-justice reform. Members included medical and mental-health professionals, civic leaders, police critics and representatives of the police union.
Magnus “developed a reputation as a progressive police leader who focused on relationship-building between the police and community, implementing evidence-based best practices, promoting reform, and insisting on police accountability,” Biden administration officials said.
The White House on Monday pointed to Magnus implementing “de-escalation training, sentinel event review processes, and programs to promote officer health and wellness” while in Tucson.
While in Richmond, California, Magnus “played a key role in rebuilding community trust in law enforcement and dramatically reducing the number of shootings and homicides,” the White House said.
“Mr. Biden was compelled to choose him because of those efforts to reform departments, as well as his recent work policing a city close to the U.S.-Mexico border,” the New York Times wrote, citing a White House official.
A spokesman for the Tucson Police Officers Association, the police union, declined to make a statement about the pending nomination.
“TPOA has no comment about the chief potentially leaving,” said Jason Winsky, a TPD sergeant and board member of the organization.
A spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, which represents about 18,000 Border Patrol agents and support personnel, also declined to comment.
“Mixed emotions”
“I have some mixed emotions about the situation,” Magnus told the Star. “I really love living and working here in Tucson. We have a tremendous team of people. Although I’m excited about Washington, D.C., and the new people I hope to be working with, it’s still hard to contemplate moving or taking on a new job.”
“We have one of the best teams I’ve ever worked with in my career here,” Magnus said. “We have so many things going on. I feel really confident that if I’m fortunate enough to be confirmed by the Senate, the good work is going to continue here.”
Magnus has never met President Biden, “but I certainly am familiar with his policies and priorities around these issues and around criminal justice in general,” he said.
“I’m also particularly excited about working with the DHS secretary (Alejandro Mayorkas), who I think is approaching these issues in a very thoughtful way,” Magnus said. “He’s the kind of person that I think will be a tremendous boss and tremendous resource as we talk about some of these really tough problems.”
“I’m really looking forward to getting to know and building a relationship with both Border Patrol and customs personnel,” Magnus said. “Think they have a very difficult job, look forward to being able to work with them.”
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, who eventually will vote on whether to confirm Magnus, called his nomination “a positive step toward ensuring the administration understands and addresses the needs of Arizona communities.”
“Our state pays the price for the federal government’s failure to fix a broken immigration system,” Sinema said in a news release.
“I’ll continue working to ensure the administration takes meaningful steps to support our border communities, secure the border, and treat all migrants and unaccompanied children fairly and humanely — and I look forward to talking with Chief Magnus soon about his nomination,” Sinema said.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, also an Arizona Democrat, said he has known Magnus for a number of years. “As the son of two police officers myself, I have respected his approach to public service and law enforcement,” Kelly said in a news release.
“With about 370 miles of U.S.-Mexico border and numerous ports of entry, Arizona requires strong, capable leadership at Customs and Border Protection to secure the border and ensure trade and commerce that is critical for our economy,” Kelly said.
“As Tucson’s Police Chief, Chief Magnus understands what it looks like when the federal government fails Arizona on border security and immigration, and that is the experience and perspective he can bring to this position,” Kelly said in his written statement.
Kelly continued, “We’re facing a humanitarian crisis at our border that is already straining Border Patrol in Arizona, and I look forward to speaking with Chief Magnus about his plans for Customs and Border Protection and providing a secure, orderly process at the border that prioritizes safety and public health.”
