Confusion over the status of a top Border Patrol official erupted this week after a cascade of media reports falsely claimed that Chief Gregory Bovino had been removed from his post, prompting an unusually direct rebuttal from the Trump administration.
According to Western Journal, the controversy began when The Atlantic published a piece asserting that Bovino was being fired in the wake of a second fatal shooting of a civilian by federal agents in Minnesota. As that narrative spread, the familiar media echo chamber quickly amplified it, with Newsweek noting that the claim was repeated on CNN and carried by the Associated Press, giving the impression of a major shake-up inside the Department of Homeland Security.
The Atlantic further reported that Bovino would be reassigned to his prior role in El Centro, California, before retiring, a framing that suggested a quiet demotion dressed up as a personnel move. That storyline, however, collided almost immediately with firm denials from the White House and senior DHS officials, who insisted that no such dismissal had taken place and that Bovino remained central to the administrations border strategy.
Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declared, directly contradicting the media narrative. She added that, As Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated from the White House podium, Greg Bovino is a key part of the Presidents team and a great American, underscoring the administrations confidence in his leadership.
Leavitt herself had publicly praised Bovino as a wonderful man and hes a great professional, language rarely used if a senior official is on the verge of being pushed out. He is very much going to continue CBP throughout and across the country. Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis, she said, clarifying that operational adjustments in Minnesota did not equate to a purge at the top of Border Patrol.
The swirl of speculation around Bovino coincided with President Donald Trumps decision to dispatch border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to oversee Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations targeting criminal illegal immigrants. That move reflected a familiar conservative priority: enforcing immigration law aggressively while attempting to maintain order amid heightened public scrutiny and media hostility.
NBC reported that the President is recalibrating tactics in response to graphic videos from Minnesota showing the circumstances surrounding the death of Alex Pretti, even as he remains committed to removing illegal immigrants from the country. The visuals were not playing well. He understands TV. He saw it for himself, NBC quoted an unnamed GOP lawmaker as saying, suggesting that the White House is acutely aware of how enforcement actions are framed on screen.
Our supporters will continue to support a crackdown on immigration, the source added, while conceding that there is an understanding that this weekend changed some things. That acknowledgment reflects a tension familiar to many conservatives: the need to uphold law and order without handing political ammunition to opponents eager to portray any firm enforcement as excessive or cruel.
NBC also highlighted the sheer manpower required for even limited operations, a reality that can distort public perception when images are stripped of context. The problem is, in order to get the felons out it takes a massive team of federal agents, said a source NBC described as close to the White House, noting how easily such scenes can be misrepresented.
So you see 10, 12 or 60 people to get a guy. Then the crowd gets incited and the rhetoric heats up and people are blowing whistles and then you see the tear gas. And its like, What are we doing? the source continued, capturing the political and media pressures that surround any high-profile enforcement action. I think the public perception is we need to make sure what were doing is done well and with excellence and get back to [focusing on] the worst of the worst, the person said, a sentiment that aligns with a core conservative principle: prioritize dangerous offenders, enforce the law rigorously, and refuse to let media-driven narratives dictate national security policy.
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