Biden picks new chief for border agency amid surging migrants

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden will nominate Chris Magnus, the chief of police in the city of Tucson, Arizona, to lead the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Magnus was a critic of former President Donald Trump's immigration policies. His appointments must get U.S. Senate confirmation.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would step into a politically divisive challenge facing the Biden administration, how to handle a record number of border crossings that are projected to increase in the coming months, the report said.

The United States is expected to encounter about 2 million migrants at the southern border by the end of the 2021 fiscal year, marking a record high since 2010, according to internal government estimates.

Biden will also nominate Jen Easterly, Morgan Stanley's head of resilience and former senior official at the National Security Agency, to lead the Homeland Security Department's cybersecurity branch.