TUCSON, Ariz. (CN) --- If Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus, President Joe Biden's pick to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection, makes it to nomination hearings in the Senate, the law enforcement reformer will likely face an angry gauntlet of questioning from Republican senators.
Magnus was a vocal critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but he has stopped short of advocating the sanctuary city status that left some communities facing the former president’s wrath. Magnus will be caught in the middle of a fierce debate that has divided his state in much the same way it does the nation.
On Thursday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey declared an emergency on the Arizona’s border, allocating $25 million and 250 National Guard troops to help border counties staff detention centers, operate border cameras and analyze the images they produce. The border is in crisis, Ducey says.
Two of Arizona’s four border sheriffs --- Mark Dannels of Cochise County and Leon Wilmot of Yuma County --- joined the governor in declaring the emergency. Dannels and Wilmot did not respond to requests for comment on Magnus’ nomination.
But Arizona’s other two border sheriffs don’t think there is a crisis at all. They think Magnus is up to the task of leading the federal agency in charge of immigration, border security and all of the nation’s ports of entry.
Through a Tucson Police spokesperson, Magnus declined to comment on his nomination, but his career, law enforcement officers who know him, and his on-the-record comments offer hints at how he will approach leadership of the CBP’s 50,000-plus employees, including more than 21,000 Border Patrol agents.
Magnus is a native of Michigan, where he started his career as a Lansing police officer. In 1999, he moved as police chief to Fargo, North Dakota, then in 2006 moved again to be police chief in Richmond, California, a city of just more than 100,000 across the bay from San Francisco.
He was hired by the city of Tucson in 2016.
In December 2018, Magnus testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration. The 40-year veteran officer highlighted a need for cooperation among law enforcement agencies on every level to fight serious crimes --- but not to enforce immigration law.
He objected to Trump administration threats to withhold grants from cities that declined to cooperate with immigration officials.
“Rather than apprehending and removing immigrants who have no criminal background, many of whom are merely seeking to work or reunite with family, law enforcement on all levels should prioritize those who threaten community safety, including human traffickers, drug traffickers, as well as other individuals proven to be members of transnational criminal organizations,” Magnus told the panel.
Two border sheriffs --- Chris Nanos of Pima County and David Hathaway of Santa Cruz County --- agreed that Magnus would bring a welcome voice of reason to Washington on border issues.
Hathaway declined Ducey’s offer of National Guard troops, because there is no crisis in his county of about 46,000 residents, which is home to Arizona’s largest Border Patrol Station in Nogales, he said.
There is no flood of immigrants overwhelming his county, Hathaway said.
“I’ll take you. I’ll show you the border,” he said. “You won’t see anything. You’ll hear the wind blow.”
Hathaway believes Magnus’ experience near the border will bring a valuable, realistic view to the table in contrast to Ducey’s political posturing, Hathaway said.
“I think it’s great that we’ll have a voice who knows what’s happening --- the reality, not the hype,” he said.
In Pima County, where just more than 1 million people live, mostly in the Tucson metropolitan area 60 miles north of Mexico, there is a similar situation, said Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has worked with Magnus during his tenure.
