President Trump tapped former Border Patrol chief under former President Barack Obama to run the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency a month after he withdrew his previous nominee to go “in a tougher direction.”

“I am pleased to inform all of those that believe in a strong, fair and sound Immigration Policy that Mark Morgan will be joining the Trump Administration as the head of our hard working men and women of ICE,” Trump announced via Twitter Sunday morning. “Mark is a true believer and American Patriot. He will do a great job!”

Morgan was a career FBI official who’d been chosen by former FBI Director James Comey to serve as the chief of the Border Patrol during the final six months of the Obama administration. He left days after Trump took office, but remained a staunch supporter of Trump’s immigration policies.

"I know this border. The president is doing the right thing. He's right on this issue," said Morgan in an interview on Fox News last week when he said he’d accept the president’s nomination “in a heartbeat” if asked.

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

In an April interview on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Morgan voiced his support of Trump's zero tolerance policy, which led to the separation of families and to children being detained in cages who might never be reunited with their parents. He also supported immigration efforts during the Obama administration.

“In 2014, when this crisis started, they did an incredible job of scrambling, throwing money and putting a facility together to actually care for them properly because their facilities were overcrowded. In 2015, the administration then was saying what an incredible great job the Border Patrol did,” he said.

“And those cages?” continued Morgan in response to claims that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the U.S. of separating children, putting them in cages and drugging them. “The reason why they are designed that way is for the safety and security of the people that are in there. So, those comments that she is making are — first of all, she is wrong. They are reckless and irresponsible.”

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Former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan during his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Nov. 16, 2010. (Photo: Cliff Owen/AP)

Morgan agreed with Trump’s repeated declaration that the U.S. in the midst of an immigration crisis at the border, saying in another Fox News interview in April, “This isn't just a crisis. This is a crisis like we've never experienced in the history of this country.”

He chalked up resistance to Trump’s border wall to “absolutely identity politics.”

“I've worked this from two different agencies. I've worked the gangs, I've worked the cartels, I've worked the border. And it just does not make sense to me why they are not doing what they need to do and listen to the experts. My only conclusion is it's absolutely identity politics,” said Morgan. He added that, after Trump declared a national emergency earlier this year, the president had no choice but to fund the border wall because "Congress has failed."

He also stood by Trump’s latest proposal to send undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities.

“I’ve been there. The Border Patrol, ICE, their facilities are overwhelmed, the faith-based organizations and other nongovernmental organizations are overwhelmed,” said Morgan in a Fox News interview. “They have no choice. They’re going to have to start pushing these individuals out. Shouldn't we kind of share the burden throughout the country?”

He added: “What the president is saying and what they're trying to do as far as the policy goes, it’s based on reality and fact, and I know that because he’s listening to the experts. Not political pundits, not talking heads, he is listening to experts. Anyone who says this a manufactured crisis is absolutely misleading the American people.”

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