WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden is set to nominate two critics of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies to key positions in his administration, a White House official said on Monday.
President Biden will nominate Chris Magnus, the chief of police in Tucson, Arizona, to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with border security and facilitating legal trade and travel. The President will also nominate Ur Jaddou as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles immigration paperwork and processing.
The Democratic president has reversed many of his Republican predecessor’s immigration policies. Biden’s immigration actions have outraged many Republicans, who accuse him of encouraging illegal immigration as the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border has increased in each of the past eleven months.
Magnus and Jaddou must be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate. The New York Times first reported the nominations.
Magnus previously served in the Lansing, Michigan Police Department, and was police chief in Fargo, North Dakota, and Richmond, California, before landing in Tucson, Arizona, the White House official said.
“In each of these cities Chief Magnus developed a reputation as a progressive police leader who focused on relationship-building between the police and community, implementing evidence-based best practices, promoting reform, and insisting on police accountability,” the official said in a statement.
Magnus offered to resign as Tucson police chief last year over the death of a man in custody who said he could not breathe after he was handcuffed and restrained face down. The Tucson city manager rejected his resignation offer.
Jaddou served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2014-2017 and most recently worked for the DC-based immigrant advocacy group America’s Voice.