By Steve Neavling

The Senate on Tuesday approved President Biden’s nomination of Chris Magnus to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

The Senate voted 50-47 to confirm the nomination, making Magnus the first openly gay CBP commissioner and the first confirmed leader of the agency since 2019. 

Magnus, 61, has served as Tucson’s police chief since 2016 and has been a vocal critic of some of Trump’s immigration policies. He’s also supported the Black Lives Matter movement. 

“It’s clear to me that Chief Magnus is going to handle this job with hard work and a sense of decency. He shares the view that enforcing our immigration laws and treating people humanely are not mutually exclusive,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore, said after Magnus’ confirmation hearing, The Arizona Republic reports.

Magnus has a tough job ahead of him as the nation grapples with a border problem and the separation of migrant children from their families. 

During the confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee last month, Magnus sought to assuage some Republicans by signaling support for two of former President Trump’s most controversial policies. He said he would consider finishing some of the border wall that the Biden administration has stopped and indicated he supported the Trump-era public health order that authorizes the rapid removal of migrants and asylum-seekers without an immigration hearing. 

Biden’s ATF nominee David Chipman floundered in the Senate after every Republican and Angus King, an independent from Maine, refused to support him.

By Steve Neavling

Since the Jan. 6 riot in Washington D.C., about 130 Capitol Police officers have left their jobs, a Senate panel was told Tuesday. 

There are now more than 230 vacancies in the roughly 2,000-officer force. 

“They are down significantly (in) officers and they need to bring … folks on that can augment that,” Michael Bolton, the inspector general for Capitol Police, told the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, USA Today reports.

The Capitol riot left about 140 officers injured, and five have died since. Two of the deaths were Capitol Police officers, including Brian Sicknick, who died from a stroke the following day, and Howard Liebengood, who committed suicide days later.

While Bolton said morale has improved since the riot, he said there are concerns about overtime and recruiting. 

A House task force in April recommended hiring 854 officers, including 350 to reduce an alarming increase in overtime. 

Congress still hasn’t decided on funding for the department. 

“This work is crucial to securing the work of the Capitol,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who heads the committee, said.