Agents Say Departed BP Chief Bragged
about Prostitutes Before Abbott Hired Him
Capitol Inside
May 14, 2026
Current and former federal agents have accused U.S. Border Patrol chief Michael Banks of bragging openly for years about prostitutes he'd paid on trips to foreign countries before Texas Governor Greg Abbott tapped him in early 2023 to be the state's first-ever czar at the Rio Grande.
Banks resigned abruptly on Thursday as the latest high-ranking figure in the Department of Homeland Security to make an unexpected exit during President Donald Trump's second term. Banks, who retired from the Border Patrol to take the job with the state, did not address the prostitution allegations that the conservative publication the Washington Examiner exposed originally on April 1.
Banks said the time had come to call it quits - and DHS official thanked him for his service with praise for the work he'd done there since the Trump administration plucked him from the state position in January 2025 after two years on the job as the inaugural Texas border czar.
Abbott touted Banks' hiring with maximum fanfare as a veteran agent who would play a key leadership role in the border security mission initiated and dubbed Operation Lone Star. The Republican governor gave Banks a a glowing recommendation for the high-ranking position in the Trump Administration.
"I created the first ever Texas Border Czar," Abbott said last year in a post on X on January 22. "He did so well that Trump has now selected him to lead the US Border Patrol."
Abbott hailed Banks as the ideal candidate for the border czar role after he signed on with the state two years earlier. "Mike is the perfect choice to help boost our historic border security mission," the Texas governor declared when he introduced Banks to Texans. "He's gone toe-to-toe with the cartels & WON."
But Banks' sudden departure at DHS and the circumstances surrounding it give the impression that Abbott may not have known the first and only Texas border czar as well as he claimed at the outset of his tenure here. That would be a major omission on the governor's part if the allegations about Banks open boasting about sex trips outside the U.S. are true.
Banks reportedly told fellow BP employees that he'd traded cash for sex in Thailand and Colombia specifically. The Examiner reported that prostitution is legal in both countries. Prostitution is only illegal in Thailand when it's carried out in a public setting or deemed as a nuisance.
The DHS investigated the allegations that six agents who lodged against Banks as ethical and moral violations at an agency that's responsible for the policing of human smuggling and sex trafficking. The agents said they surprised by Banks' candidness when describing the international sex exploits. But the probes ended without action including one that unfolded when Kristi Noem was serving as the secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump cabinet.
Abbott's office did not reveal at the time of Banks' hiring if he'd been thoroughly vetted for one of the most important law enforcement jobs in the history of the state. The governor could be asked at some point if he had any knowledge of Bank's dealings with prostitutes on personal trips.
more to come ...
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