Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol’s commander of at-large operations, has been demoted from his post overseeing embeds with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following an agent-involved shooting in Minneapolis over the weekend, according to six federal sources.
Bovino was notified that he would be headed back to his job overseeing Border Patrol operations in El Centro, California, effective Tuesday.
The move comes two days after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot protester Alex Pretti while carrying out immigration enforcement.
President Donald Trump sent White House border czar Tom Homan and other senior advisers across the Department of Homeland Security to Minneapolis on Monday and spoke by phone with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) in an effort to find an off-ramp to the tense situation.
Bovino was tapped last June to oversee a temporary surge of agents into Los Angeles.
Five people previously told the Washington Examiner that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made that decision and had told Bovino he would report directly to her, an unprecedented move to have Bovino go around U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott and Border Patrol’s national chief, Mike Banks.
CBP and DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
Pretti was killed on Saturday. Despite being armed, he did not use his gun and is not believed to have threatened Border Patrol agents who apprehended him in the street.
TRUMP’S BORDER SECURITY MEASURES GO FAR BEYOND A WALL. HERE’S WHAT THEY ENTAIL
However, Noem referred to Pretti as a domestic terrorist, with Bovino describing him as a “suspect.”
Democrats, as well as Republicans, have pushed back against the Trump administration and Border Patrol since the shooting on Saturday.
