Border Patrol chief Michael Banks hit with prostitution allegations by agents

“I don’t know how he became the chief of the Border Patrol with his character,” a former Border Patrol agent told the Washington Examiner in a phone call, adding that now-53-year-old Banks had personally pushed him to come along on one of the trips. “He’s going to third-world countries to take advantage of poor f***ing women, which disgusts the hell out of me.”

Four others said Banks talked freely with his subordinates about his travels and that it was known why he went, making his promotion to the top of the agency last year that much more flabbergasting.

“He would tell people that’s why he was going on these trips — he would go there to engage in activities with prostitutes,” a second person said. “So I think those stories are out everywhere, and you can’t put them away or not give it attention because he was the one telling people about these trips.

“In our line of work, part of what we do is try to combat the trafficking of females, that is part of our job,” the same person said. “It’s counter to what we do or what we should be standing for. If you’re partaking in those activities, you’re supporting the trafficking and exploitation of women.”

Accusations against Banks

The first source, a retired Border Patrol agent in management, shared in a phone call in late March that he had known Banks personally in the early to mid 2010s when Banks was a field operations supervisor in Nogales, Arizona. The agent had met with Banks and another agent at restaurants on several occasions, in which Banks had invited him to go with him and another agent on a trip abroad.

“Initially, he said, ‘We like to go scuba diving.’ But then he’s like, ‘We get a bunch of prostitutes and have a good time,’” the retired agent recalled. “And I told him, ‘No, thanks.’ And I kind of just stopped associating with him on any personal level after that.”

The trips were on Banks’ personal time, according to the same person. Other current and former Border Patrol employees in Arizona and Texas confirmed that they had heard about Banks touting his trips and what he did on them, either first-person or secondhand.

The trips continued after Banks moved to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the late 2010s and possibly up until his retirement in 2023. Banks returned to the DHS in January 2025.

The first source, the closest person to Banks, said he chose to speak out now because it bothered him that the head of the organization had so openly talked about his endeavors.

“He’s going to know it’s me,” the same person said. “F*** him, because he knows the truth.”

Unethical behavior?

In Colombia and Thailand, prostitution is legal. All six people who spoke with the Washington Examiner said that paying for sex, even in a country where it may be legal, was unethical and violated Border Patrol’s ethics standards.

“Even if prostitution is legal in Colombia, it’s illegal for us as agents and against policy for us to engage in that,” the first person said. “If you have the character where you’re going to go take advantage of third-world country women that are poor as hell and pay for sex and they don’t really have another option, it’s just not cool in my book.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the 68,000-employee federal agency that oversees the Border Patrol, was asked about its policy regarding employees engaging in prostitution in countries where it is legal. It did not comment on that matter.

However, in a statement provided Tuesday afternoon, a CBP spokesperson said, “these allegations date back more than a decade and were reviewed years ago.”

“The matter was closed,” the CBP spokesperson said in a statement. “CBP takes allegations regarding misconduct seriously. We cherish the public’s trust and work tirelessly to uphold the rule of law and hold ourselves accountable.”

The Border Patrol’s motto is Honor First. The second person said the organization presses into agents the importance of “honor and professionalism and doing the right thing.”

“When you see someone like Banks get promoted to the top position in the entire Border Patrol, and you know his past, it communicates that you can get away with these things,” the same official said.

The National Border Patrol Council, the organization’s nongovernmental union, said that “an allegation was made, was investigated, and the subject was cleared of any misconduct, and yes, he is now in charge of 20,000+ USBP employees.”

NBPC President Paul Perez said Banks had “held senior-level managers accountable, where previous chiefs did not, thereby creating a long list of enemies with an axe to grind.

“That someone would anonymously dredge up some unfounded allegation as a means to smear Banks today shows how desperate they are to prevent him from holding people accountable for doing their jobs,” Perez said.

None of the six sources who spoke with the Washington Examiner were individuals whom Banks disciplined or had held accountable.

Investigations into Banks

Banks’ trips were internally reported to superiors by at least one employee before he retired in January 2023, although the conclusion of the subsequent investigation is unclear.

“There was an investigation before he left the Border Patrol,” the second person said. “He was asked about it, about his trips.”

Any open investigation is automatically wrapped up if an agent leaves the organization.

Around June 2025, after Banks had returned to the DHS, the accusations against Banks resurfaced, although it is not clear what triggered the second investigation. CBP had its internal affairs component, the Office of Professional Responsibility, begin to dig into Banks’ past, three sources said.

The first agent said he was deposed about what Banks had said to him, as well as about Banks’ going to Mexico’s Hermosillo, Sonora, to “pick up” prostitutes.

A third person, a retired senior agent, said OPR did investigate, but it was unknown what happened.

Banks’s ties to union and Abbott

A retired senior Border Patrol official, who was not among the six sources, did not corroborate the sex tourism allegations. He described Banks as a “long-standing field agent with very little mid to top-level executive experience like prior USBP chiefs.”

Banks was a member of the U.S. Navy Military Police before joining Border Patrol as an agent. He worked in Arizona, California, and Texas, but was in management once he moved to the Rio Grande Valley of southeastern Texas, from which he retired in early 2023 after 24 years.

In January 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) named Banks border czar of his state. Three sources said the announcement made sense given Banks’ deep connections with the National Border Patrol Council and Abbott.

Perez maintained that the union is “frequently asked by organizations for our opinion on retired CBP and USBP personnel being considered for future positions, and if we have an opinion, we may share it.

“When Mike Banks was being considered for a position with the State of Texas, we agreed that he would be a great choice, along with other people who were being considered,” Perez said.

Abbott has a long-standing relationship with the union, and its president, Paul Perez, endorsed the incumbent governor for a fourth term earlier this year. Banks’ wife, Mayra Banks, is a rank-and-file agent whom he met, dated, and married while he was a manager. She now sits on the union’s executive board, although the union’s website has not been updated to reflect that change.

“That’s how he got the Texas Border Czar position and how he got the Chief job (the Union made it happen on both accounts). He is entirely beholden to them,” the third person wrote in text messages. “It’s a mess.”

“The way he got the border czar job was through the union,” said a fourth person, who is familiar with the politics behind the hire, but is not a current or former Border Patrol employee.

Banks oversaw the state and local law enforcement’s Operation Lone Star border security initiative and cooperation with federal immigration and customs authorities. During his time in state government, the state was able to push illegal immigrant crossings further west as a result of significantly beefing up security measures and personnel presence along Texas’ border with Mexico.

Putting Banks in a prime, influential spot during the Biden administration also put him on President Donald Trump’s radar and in place to be selected for an administration job.

Abbott told the Washington Examiner in a January interview that bringing the nation’s focus to the border, and particularly the busing of immigrants, in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election “altered the arc” of that race, taking some credit for Trump’s victory that November.

“After he was elected, Trump called me and thanked me for what I did in the busing program because he said it shined a white-hot spotlight on a very important issue,” Abbott said. “And suddenly he was able to gain traction on that issue, and that was one pivotal reason why he was elected to be president.”

Ultimately, the union wanted Trump to make Banks his CBP commissioner, the same person said.

However, Trump selected former Border Patrol national chief Rodney Scott to lead CBP, pushing Banks down to Border Patrol.

“He’s owned by the union. Whatever the union wants, they’re going to get,” the fourth person said. “They’re the one who gave him the job. [Perez] wanted Banks in there because they could have a minion.”

Among Banks’ first actions as Border Patrol chief early last year was to rescind a policy that forbade fraternization. Managers would no longer be required to alert Border Patrol about dating a lower-level member of staff, a measure that was originally put in place to ensure relationships were consensual and not out of pressure from a superior. It was also intended to help protect employees in the workplace if a relationship ended.

The union had strongly opposed the fraternization policy when it was implemented during the Biden administration.

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“Banks was so proud, day one,” the same person said.

Banks did not respond to a request for comment.