Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino to retire from federal service, sources say

Outspoken Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino is retiring from federal service at the end of this month, after being pulled away from a high-profile role leading immigration raids in major U.S. cities, two sources directly familiar with his decision told CBS News on Monday.

Over the past years, Bovino, a longtime Border Patrol official, has been serving as the chief patrol agent of the El Centro sector along the California-Mexico border. But he quickly became a leading public face of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration after he was deployed to cities across the U.S., to oversee sweeping and often controversial immigration raids.

Bovino and his team of green-uniformed Border Patrol agents were dispatched first to the Los Angeles area in June of last year. There, they conducted immigration arrest operations that sparked local outcry, including at Home Depot parking lots.

In September, Bovino and his agents were deployed to Chicago, followed by Charlotte, New Orleans and ultimately, Minneapolis. In all those cities, their operations came under scrutiny, with local residents and leaders denouncing them as heavy-handed and indiscriminate. Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command were captured on video stopping people to ask for their immigration status, including because of the person’s accent.

Bovino was relieved of his role in late January after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — and the response from Bovino and other officials — triggered widespread political backlash.

Immediately after Pretti’s killing, Bovino, citing no evidence, claimed that Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents.

CBS News reached out to Bovino and the Department of Homeland Security seeking comment.

Bovino’s decision to retire comes roughly two weeks after President Trump announced he had tapped Arkansas Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had empowered Bovino and made him a direct report.

Administration officials told CBS News that Noem had increasingly gotten herself in a precarious position with Mr. Trump, with frustrations growing over her handling of the controversial Minneapolis immigration crackdown, the fatal shootings of American citizens there and her recent congressional testimony, in which she claimed the president was aware of a $220 million ad featuring her.