US Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks abruptly resigns

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told Fox News on Thursday he is resigning, effective immediately. 

"It's just time," Banks told Fox News correspondent Bill 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," he said. "Time to pass the reigns, 37 years, it's time to enjoy the family and life."

Banks has previously detailed his upbringing in the small town of Warner Robins, Georgia. He said he was raised primarily by his grandmother, who was on a fixed income, as his single mother struggled to raise his two older half-sisters.

To help his grandmother pay the bills, Banks said he began working full-time in the summers and part-time during the school year picking peaches, working alongside migrant farmworkers. According to an interview published on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, Banks said the experience had given him a deep sense of humility and compassion, teaching him what it takes to support a family.

Banks enlisted in the military at 17 years old and served for a decade in both combat and peacetime, overseas and in the U.S., primarily in law enforcement roles.

After hearing stories from Border Patrol agents, Banks applied to the agency in 2000.

Over his 23 years in the Border Patrol, Banks held numerous leadership positions and worked in many units, including ATVs, horse patrol, bikes, boats, tunnel team, investigations and prosecutions.

Frustrated by what he described as the "destruction" of morale and border security during the first two years of the Biden administration, Banks retired from the Border Patrol and went to work for the state of Texas. 

He said he watched the situation deteriorate further before returning to lead the agency as chief under the second Trump administration.

It is unclear who will replace him.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.