President Trump finally made his decision on who to appoint to be in charge of the border patrol. As of Sunday, Trump chose a former Border Patrol chief who worked under Obama’s administration.
On Sunday, President Trump posted on Twitter that Mark Morgan “will be joining the Trump Administration as the head of our hard working men and women of ICE.” He also added that “Mark is a true believer and American Patriot. He will do a great job!”
In a statement written by acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, he stated that Morgan’s “record of service is needed to address the crisis at the border.” He also said that Morgan was needed to “support the men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
ICE is the agency responsible for enforcing the immigration laws in the interior of the United States. Part of their duty is to arrest the immigrants who have entered into the U.S. illegally, which has made ICE the focus of Trump’s immigration policies.
Morgan graduated from the University of Central Missouri Magna cum Laude with a degree in construction engineering. He also received a JD from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. On Morgan’s LinkedIn page, he describes himself as an “accomplished senior executive with 30 years of progressive experience leading people, driving strategic change, and creating an innovative culture with value-driven proven results.” In his bio, Morgan also states his service as: “U.S. Border Patrol/Customs and (Border) Protection, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Los Angeles Police Department, and United States Marine Corps.”
Morgan was named the head of the U.S. Border Patrol in 2016 but was removed from the position during the beginning of Trump’s presidency. Morgan was the first outsider to lead the Border Patrol, but he clashed with the union, which has a close relationship with President Trump. After Morgan was removed, he has defended Trump’s policies on immigration and has publicly declared that he supports Trump’s efforts to construct the wall at the border.
In an opinion piece that Morgan wrote for Fox News in March, he said: “It’s time to stop listening to those driven by a personal political ideology and arm yourself with facts, thorough analysis, and the perspective of credible experts. It’s an emergency.”
In April, President Trump publicly showed his appreciation for Morgan by tweeting: “Mark Morgan, President Obama’s Border Patrol Chief, gave the following message to me: ‘President Trump, stay the course.’ I agree, and believe it or not, we are making great progress with a system that has been broken for many years!”
According to Fox News, Morgan said that starting in 2014, the demographics for the people crossing the border began to change. “Meaning, we saw an influx in family units and unaccompanied minors,” said Morgan. “It was then, also, across the aisle on both sides that referred to that as a humanitarian crisis,” he continued.
In an interview with Fox News last week, Morgan said that the crisis at the border with Mexico has only gotten worse. “Right now if you grab a kid and come to our country illegally, you’re allowed in.” Morgan continued by saying: “They’re not even asserting credible fear claims, they’re not even asserting asylum now. They don’t need to because our laws are so broke.”
