Biden Nominates Open-Borders Advocate and Anti-Enforcement Cop to Key Positions

Joe Biden finally made formal nominations for the agency heads of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Both picks have a history of supporting open-borders policies, and would take over crucially important immigration agencies in the midst of an escalating border crisis which the Biden administration refuses to take meaningful action on.

Customs and Border Protection – Chris Magnus

For the role of Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, President Biden nominated a vocal Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions critic who once argued that anti-sanctuary legislation makes local communities “more dangerous.” Chris Magnus is the current police chief of Tucson, Arizona and previously served as the chief of Fargo, North Dakota and Richmond, California.

Magnus has no federal law enforcement or experience in immigration enforcement or law. Further, Magnus would direct an agency employing over 62,700 people despite never directing a police department larger than a few hundred staff members. Magnus is a self-described progressive whose own police union (Richmond, CA) denounced him for protesting in uniform against the very laws he swore to uphold. As the chief of the Tuscon, Arizona police department, he barred his agents from assisting Border Patrol’s search for an escaped illegal alien. This same man would lead the agency that oversees Border Patrol.

Simply put, he’s the wrong man at the wrong time. Joe Biden tapped an untested sanctuary city police chief to run CBP in the midst of an out-of-control border crisis. Due to his temperament, lack of experience, and self-described anti-enforcement views, Magnus is wholly unqualified for the role of leading America’s front line against illegal immigration, human smuggling, and drug trafficking. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – Ur Jaddou

President Biden nominated Ur Jaddou, a member of his transition team and current director of DHS Watch at America’s Voice, to become the director of USCIS. USCIS administers all immigration benefits and adjudicates most aspects of the United States’ immigrant programs, nonimmigrant guestworker programs, and citizenship naturalization.

Jaddou has a long history of open-borders activism with experience in Congress, the State Department, and USCIS. She began her career in 2002 as counsel for Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the current chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship. Jaddou then worked as that committee’s chief Democratic counsel from 2007 until 2011. In 2012 she began working in the legislative affairs office of the State Department, before leaving to join USCIS as their chief counsel in 2014.

As the chief lawyer for USCIS, Jaddou defended the alleged legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. During this time, she worked closely with the chief architect of that effort: Alejandro Mayorkas, the current Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, of which USCIS is a part. Aside from DHS Secretary Mayorkas, Jaddou would be the most experienced immigration policy expert throughout DHS and would be able to successfully push for radical policies from both her USCIS position and through her close personal relationship with Mayorkas.

After the election of President Trump, Jaddou joined America’s Voice, a far-left advocacy organization that wants to legalize tens of millions of illegal aliens and opposes any kind of immigration enforcement. While there, she led the “DHS Watch” program which attacked nearly all of the immigration policies that came out of the Trump administration. She even attacked the use of Title 42 during the COVID-19 pandemic to quickly remove illegal aliens who unlawfully crossed the border.

Outlook

Both Magnus and Jaddou will face Senate confirmation hearings and votes. The votes for both nominees should be close. Both Magnus and Jaddou have a demonstrated history of hostility toward the policies of President Trump and Senate Republicans. As with other contentious nominations, it will be important to note the reactions of Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) towards these nominations, as the Democrats cannot afford to lose a single senator, assuming unified Republican opposition, which is also not guaranteed.

FAIR will strongly oppose both nominations as they represent significant steps in the wrong direction for both agencies. In the midst of a growing border crisis, USCIS and CBP both need strong leaders at the helm – not open-borders apologists opposed to the enforcement of our immigration laws.