Trump to tap Texas “border czar” to lead U.S. Border Patrol, report says

Mike Banks at a news conference about border security at the Texas Department of Public Safety regional headquarters in Weslaco on Feb. 21, 2023. (Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune)

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President-elect Donald Trump will pick Mike Banks, a special advisor to Gov. Greg Abbott for border matters, to lead the U.S. Border Patrol, according to the New York Post.

Banks, a retired Border Patrol agent, has served as Texas’ “border czar” since 2023 when Abbott created the position.

The press offices for the Trump administration’s transition team and Abbott’s office did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.

Banks served as a border advisor amid the state’s all-out effort to control the southern border with Mexico, dubbed Operation Lone Star, and its confrontations with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement, which has long been the sole responsibility of the federal government.

As part of the mission, Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guard soldiers have been deployed to the border, where they have installed miles of concertina wire and a floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass while also arresting thousands of migrants on criminal trespassing charges.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters in Washington D.C. Thursday that Trump’s pick was a “great choice.”

“I know Mike, and I think it's an inspired choice, and nobody understands the border better than Texans,” Cornyn said. “Texas obviously has the biggest border, longest border, and I really like the idea that we're going to have somebody who understands the Texas border.”

Matthew Choi contributed to this report.