This article popped up today. I remember doing a piece on him, but that had to have been weeks ago. Today, it’s the end of his story in the spotlight. It’s his final chapter. Mercy, how “Trump’s people” are corrupt. We should be used to it by now, but it still surprises me. We see how long it has been going on for each person, because the truth will come out, whether or not someone tries to hide it. This one amused me. So, onward with his final chapter. My regards to Raw Story:
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks announced his resignation Wednesday, effective immediately, in an exclusive interview with Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin — offering a rosy self-assessment that critics say glosses conveniently over a deeply troubled chapter in the agency’s recent history.
“It’s just time,” Banks told Melugin. “I feel like I got the ship back on course. From the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen. Time to pass the reins, 37 years is time to enjoy the family and life.”
Heh. Yea no. Fox News may have it, and their viewers may eat it up, but we don’t need the news because we already know what’s behind the façade. His tenure was anything but rosy. There’s something more lurking in the background, whispering to us over his shoulder. He doesn’t notice because he’s too busy talking himself up. And lying, because the Biden administration did its work too, except they set up programs to work with those asking for asylum, just asking to come into the country in hopes of a better life. Trump shut it down. Plus, that doggone wall is still being constructed. But, back to Banks.
Last month, Banks had been accused of regularly soliciting sex workers.
“Banks ‘bragged‘ to colleagues while in his previous management role at Border Patrol about paying for sex with prostitutes while traveling in Colombia and Thailand over the course of a decade,” a Washington Examiner report said at the time.
The departure of Banks, a 37-year veteran, raises fresh questions about the future leadership for an agency that spent much of the past year at the center of a political firestorm — largely thanks to the rise and fall of one of its most controversial figures, Greg Bovino.
Ah, yes, Bozo-ino … er Bozino. That man was something else. He was called into court a *lot* because he kept violating the judges’ orders. She wiped the floor with him. That would have also been glorious to see. Judge Ellis kicked butt and took names, specifically one name, his. (Yes, she is a BadA$$ judge.) But again, I got sidetracked because I really detest Bovino. He’s probably a mercenary by now. He could have reached out to Blackwater. But let me drag myself back to the subject at hand, which is Banks, not Bovino.
Banks’s self-congratulatory farewell — crediting himself with steering the agency from “the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border” to “the most secure border this country has ever seen” — fits neatly into the administration’s preferred immigration messaging.
But with Bovino’s shadow still hanging over the agency, critics argue the “ship” Banks claims to have righted is still taking on water.
A federal judge had previously ruled that tactics employed by Bovino in Kern County, California — referred to as Operation Return to Sender — were illegal.
Banks gets his retirement. Bovino got his. And somewhere in Minneapolis, the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are still waiting for answers.
We are all still waiting for answers that may never come. But a disgusting man has retired, the one who used to take trips to get sex workers, and then boast about it. We don’t know if whoever takes over will be better or worse. If it’s the usual Trump sycophant, it will be worse. Better the devil you know does not apply anymore. But he’s gone. Good.
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
