There are a lot of heads rolling in the street all of a sudden from the State Department to the Border Patrol.
The Border Patrol chief has been forced out a day after President Donald Trump announced an ambitious plan to build a wall at the Mexican border and hire 5,000 Border Patrol agents, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Mark Morgan told senior Border Patrol agents about his ouster during a brief video conference on Thursday morning, saying he was asked to leave and that he decided to resign rather than fight the request, according to the official, who was on the call.
From the start, he clashed with the Border Patrol's union, which endorsed Trump early and forcefully during the presidential campaign. The National Border Patrol Council had advocated for an insider to lead the agency and sharply criticized Morgan at almost every turn.
The former official said Morgan was not at work yesterday and did not attend a gathering at the Homeland Security Department with Trump and newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
During that visit Trump singled out the union's president, Brandon Judd, while pointedly avoiding mention of Morgan. Judd served on Trump's transition team.
The union was incensed when Morgan told a Senate hearing Dec. 1, in response to a question from Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., that he supported a comprehensive immigration overhaul, which is often interpreted to include a path to citizenship for people who are in the country illegally.
The National Border Patrol Council really disliked Morgan and now they're in the driver's seat. It described him as,"A hand picked Obama Administration official — does not have the will necessary to secure the border for the citizens and legal residents of this country."
No wonder he's gone.