US President Joe Biden has nominated an Arizona police chief and vocal critic of Donald Trump to head the US Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP), White House officials said on Monday.

Chris Magnus, currently the police chief of Tucson, Arizona, previously served as chief of police in Fargo, North Dakota, and Richmond California.

In 2014, Magnus made national headlines when he was posted - in uniform - holding a banner in support of the Black Lives Matter moment, leading to accusations from the Richmond Police Officers Association that he was violating the law by politicking while in uniform.

Border Czar Roberta Jacobson to step down at end of April

"I thought it was an important gesture of goodwill," he told a San Francisco newspaper after the incident. "It certainly wasn't intended to be a political statement....it was intended to be a humane statement."

Two years later, Magnus offered his resignation following the death of a 27-year old Latino who died while in custody. Ultimately, however, the three police officers involved in the incident were fired.

Magnus again received national recognition during the Trump administration, when he became a harsh critic of the Trump administration.

In a 2017 opinion piece Magnus wrote for the New York Times, Magnus wrote that Trump's harsh immigration policies were having a "chilling" effect on police-community relations in Tucson.

"Many community members have told me that Latinos are not turning to us for help or working with us as often as they have in the past," he wrote. "Their growing sense of fear and distrust is clearly a consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from Mr. Trump and Attorney General Sessions." 

In a 2017 opinion piece Magnus wrote for the New York Times, Magnus wrote that Trump's harsh immigration policies were having a "chilling" effect on police-community relations in Tucson.

He also criticized the Trump administration for repeatedly tying crime rates to illegal immigration.

AP

"The facts don't support this narrative," he said. "The Trump administration seems to think it knows more about fighting crime than local police chiefs and sheriffs, and it is punishing cities that keep their officers focused on community needs rather than immigration enforcement." Magnus is one of several made by the Biden administration this week.

Nearly 300 sheriffs call on Biden to reverse 'reckless' immigration policies

Another nominee, Ur Jaddou, will lead the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) - a government entity that deals with visas, permanent residences and naturalizations.

Jade had previously served as USCIS' Counsel between 2014 and 2017 during the Obama Administration. During the Trump administration, she led the DHS Watch project, which was founded in 2018 by immigration advocacy firm America's Voice with the aiming of upholding "an immigration system that is competently administered, accountable and adheres to long-held American values on immigration."

The Biden administration has proposed raising the USCIS budget from $118 million to $345 million in 2022.