Border Patrol Chief Quits After Report He Hired Foreign Sex Workers |
Border Patrol Chief Quits After Report He Hired Foreign Sex Workers
Mike Banks reportedly traveled abroad to solicit sex workers multiple times over the course of a decade.
The Trump administration’s immigration operation is experiencing another major shakeup.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks suddenly resigned from his position Thursday following accusations of sexual impropriety. Banks oversaw Donald Trump’s second-term immigration crackdown. The longtime law enforcement professional told Fox News that his resignation was effective immediately.
“It’s just time, man,” Banks told Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin. “I feel like I got this shit 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.”
“It’s time to enjoy the family and life,” Banks added.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott thanked Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security.”
But Banks’s sudden departure comes at a curious time, as reports circulate about his penchant for sex workers. Border Patrol employees told the Washington Examiner last month that Banks was “known among colleagues for taking regular trips abroad to engage in sex with prostitutes.”
Banks even “bragged” about his deviant habits with colleagues while in his previous role in Border Patrol, and allegedly paid for sex with prostitutes while travelling across Colombia and Thailand over the course of a decade. CBP reportedly investigated his behavior twice, including last year, but the probe was squashed by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Despite Trump having made immigration a key priority for his second term, federal immigration agencies have seen a tremendous leadership shakeup since he returned to office, rattling every component of the country’s immigration system.
So far, the restructuring has ousted Noem and former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who was sidelined by the administration after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis early this year.
And more resignations are on the way: acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons is expected to step down from his position in the coming weeks. He will be replaced by David Venturella, a private prison executive.
Here’s Who Funded Trump Secretary’s Family Reality TV Show
Sean Duffy went on an all-expenses-paid vacation over the course of seven months—and kept collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck too.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s glamorous road trip across the U.S. was paid for by corporate titans.
The former Fox News host claimed that over the course of seven months, he filmed an upcoming reality television show with his wife and their nine children, called The Great American Roadtrip. His wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, referred to their time on the road as “really wholesome, good family stuff.”
But Duffy—a multimillionaire with a taxpayer-funded salary—did not pay for the extravagant trip himself. Instead, the money came from a supposedly independent nonprofit, a 501(c)4 called Great American Road Trip Inc.
In a statement to The New Republic, Duffy’s office described GART as an “independent” entity.
GART was established around August 2025 by Tori Barnes, reported Forbes Thursday. Barnes, according to her LinkedIn profile, spent nearly two decades working as a lobbyist for General Motors before moving to the U.S. Travel Association.
A Department of Transportation memo dated March 6 described GART as a “multi-platform storytelling initiative” that was launched by Duffy and the Transportation Department as part of a “series of initiatives in partnership with Freedom250 to further contribute to this historic year.” Freedom250 is the Trump administration’s effort commemorating the U.S.’s 250th birthday.
Behind the nonprofit’s funding is a medley of industry giants, including aircraft manufacturer Boeing, carmaker Toyota, and gas giant Shell, all proudly displayed on the nonprofit’s website. Other funders were Google, the cruise company Royal Caribbean Group, United Airlines, Chase Travel, and the U.S. Travel Association, among other companies that rely on the regulatory systems of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Politico reported Tuesday that sponsorships ranged in price from $100,000 to $1 million.
The reality-TV series was launched in partnership with Fox News, and is set to be released on YouTube in the lead-up to America’s 250th birthday. Not all 50 states will get airtime. Duffy’s multimonth trip hit just eight states: Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Montana, Massachusetts, as well as Washington, D.C.
In a promotional interview on Fox News last week, Duffy confessed that the trek was his idea.
“I wanted to lean in to America’s 250th birthday,” Duffy said, reminding the panel that he and Campos-Duffy met on a road trip for MTV’s Real World spinoff, Road Rules: All Stars in 1998.
“And so over the course of seven months we just kind of found these moments where I might be able to do some work, take the kids with me, do a road trip—and our motto is to love America is to see America,” Duffy continued, “and there’s so much to see in this beautiful country.”
Campos-Duffy later clarified that the straight-to-streaming family vacation emerged out of a prompt from Donald Trump, who urged his Cabinet to find ways to celebrate America ahead of the 250th anniversary.
The adventure has since received enormous backlash, which Duffy has attributed to the “the radical, miserable left.”
In an extensive statement shared with TNR, DOT spokesperson Nathaniel Sizemore affirmed that “no taxpayer dollars were spent on Secretary Duffy’s family,” and that “the Secretary and his family do not receive any salary or production royalties” from the show.
“Further, celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary is part of Secretary Duffy’s official duties, and The Great American Road Trip is one aspect in support of those responsibilities,” Sizemore wrote.
Sizemore’s note also specified that Duffy’s trip occurred over 24 days between September and May, a span of nine months—not seven, as the secretary himself claimed.
The four-page note also included pre-written verbiage about whether the nonprofit’s donors presented a “conflict of interest.”
“There is a formal agreement between USDOT and the non-profit that expressly states the non-profit will not receive ‘any favorable consideration for any future federal financial assistance,’ action, contract, or other financial award,” Sizemore wrote, adding that Duffy’s participation in the project was “approved by USDOT ethics attorneys.”
This story has been updated.
Trump’s Lawsuit Against The Wall Street Journal Isn’t Going Well
A U.S. district judge ruled that the president can’t use the discovery process in........