Ex-Border Patrol Chief: Trump Officials Want Me Dead
Ex-Border Patrol Chief: Trump Officials Want Me Dead
The News
Greg Bovino, the former Border Patrol commander-at-large who led President Trump's mass deportation raids, says senior Trump administration officials stripped his security detail because "they want me dead."
He made the accusation in an interview with Tucker Carlson released Wednesday, naming Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott as the man who took the detail away, with border czar Tom Homan present.
The White House called the allegation "absurd."
What Bovino Said
"The administration didn't want you to have security? Why?" Carlson asked.
"I think to silence me," Bovino answered. "Do I think they want me dead at this point? Yes."
"Do I think they want me killed? Absolutely," he added. "The minute I left, security detail gets pulled. I'm one of the highest, if not the highest, threats in DHS. Death threats."
Bovino said Border Patrol agents refused to leave his house until he gave them a direct order to go, because he was no longer in the Border Patrol. He said threats have also been aimed at family members and that the FBI had to intercept his mail.
He did not accuse the president. "I don't think Trump would," Bovino said, blaming what he called the "gate guards" around him. "I think if Trump knew what they had done and what they would do to Border Patrol agents or ICE officers or anyone that disagrees with them, I think he would have an absolute panic attack or a heart attack."
Asked directly whether he believed Homan wanted him dead, Bovino pointed at Scott: "I think Rodney Scott, he's the one that took my security detail away with Homan there. Yeah, absolutely. You bet."
Bovino also said Homan's people tried to strip him of government-provided legal representation for actions taken on duty, and that another retired Border Patrol chief was warned legal support would be pulled if he kept appearing on Carlson's show. Pressed on whether Homan delivered that threat personally, Bovino said he could not make that claim: "His people. Yeah, I can't say he did. His people, yes."
Timeline
Federal agents fatally shoot U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti during the Border Patrol surge in Minneapolis, the last of the deployments that also took Bovino to Los Angeles and Chicago. Bovino is removed as commander-at-large that month, CNN reported, and returns to his post as chief of California's El Centro sector.
Bovino says an investigation opened immediately, stemming from a Chicago federal judge's finding that he lied in court about why he threw a tear gas canister into a crowd. He disputes the finding and notes the ruling was vacated by a higher court. A disciplinary review board recommended the case be closed; Bovino says CBP leadership bypassed that and opened a separate internal affairs investigation on the same lack-of-candor allegation.
Bovino says he was accused of antisemitism over a "chosen ones" remark he describes as sarcastic and drawn from Bible study.
Bovino retires after his attorney advised him the situation was untenable. He says his security detail was pulled within a day of his departure. He has acknowledged to The New York Times that the retirement was not entirely voluntary, the Guardian reported.
The Carlson interview is released.
Reactions
White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Lauren Bis defended Homan on Thursday: "This is absurd. Tom Homan is an American patriot and career law enforcement officer with decades of experience effectively protecting American communities and deporting illegal aliens."
Neither Scott nor Homan has publicly responded to the allegations, Raw Story reported. The Washington Times said it requested a response from DHS.
Carlson's own reaction to Bovino's account of the enforcement operations: "No wonder they want to kill you."
Bovino posted after the interview: "I sat down with Tucker and told him what they didn't want said out loud. I was removed by status quo bureaucrats for going hard. The war should be fought on American soil. You are being gaslighted. They want you to think mass deportations are happening. They're not. It's theater."
One Claim That Doesn't Hold Up
Bovino also asserted in the interview that there are "107 million illegal aliens currently residing with impunity in the United States." Independent estimates run from 12 million to a record 14 million as of 2023, the Washington Times noted. Bovino said the figure is not a formal count but an extrapolation from traffic-commute studies in Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, plus school absentee rates.
What's Next
DHS has not answered the accusation on the record beyond the White House statement defending Homan. Whether Bovino's security detail is restored, and whether the internal affairs case against him is still open, are unresolved. Bovino has signaled he intends to keep talking publicly about how the deportation campaign is being run.
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