Bovino Is a Failed Leader -- But Also the Fall Guy for Immigration Debacle

Ruben Navarrette
Tue, 27 Jan 2026 18:19:03 -0800
Opinion

SAN DIEGO — Now that Gregory Bovino has been jackbooted from his position as U.S. Border Patrol "commander at large" — and unceremoniously demoted back to his former job as sector chief in El Centro, Calif. — it's tempting to breathe a sigh of relief at the thought that evil has left the building.

Fellow Americans, you might want to hold your breath. We're not that lucky. Not as long as President Donald Trump is in charge. Bovino is the fall guy. As the old saying goes, a fish rots from the head.

Similarly, the witch's brew spilling over in what was supposed to be an immigration crackdown on "the worst of the worst" — excessive force mixed with racial profiling, combined with a lack of accountability — was concocted at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Updated: Tue Jan 27, 2026

SAN DIEGO — Now that Gregory Bovino has been jackbooted from his position as U.S. Border Patrol "commander at large" — and unceremoniously demoted back to his former job as sector chief in El Centro, Calif. — it's tempting to breathe a sigh of relief at the thought that evil has left the building.

Fellow Americans, you might want to hold your breath. We're not that lucky. Not as long as President Donald Trump is in charge. Bovino is the fall guy. As the old saying goes, a fish rots from the head.

Similarly, the witch's brew spilling over in what was supposed to be an immigration crackdown on "the worst of the worst" — excessive force mixed with racial profiling, combined with a lack of accountability — was concocted at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

It was Trump who set the stage for the ICE storm currently battering Minnesota. He slandered Mexican migrants as "rapists" who were "bringing drugs" and "bringing crime", decried that the United States takes in so many people from "shit-hole countries" rather than a mostly white country such as Norway, said immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," declared that Somali immigrants are "garbage" who "contribute nothing."

The only foreigners that Trump seems to fancy are white South Afrikaners. As alleged victims of what the president sees as an anti-white "genocide" orchestrated by Black people who now run the government, these "Afrikaner refugees" got a red carpet welcome when Trump issued an executive order to expedite the process for admitting and resettling them in the United States.

I bet that some of the ICE agents who descended on Minnesota thought they were on a mission to Make America White Again. That's why they immediately profile Asians and Latinos.

So says Chris Madel, a Republican and Minneapolis attorney who provided legal support to Ross. He recently ended his campaign for the U.S. Senate in a surprise video announcement, describing the immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities as an "unmitigated disaster." Part of the reason for that, he said, was ICE's reliance on racial and ethnic profiling targeting people of color, especially Latinos and Asians.

"I have read about and I have spoken to help countless United States citizens who have been detained in Minnesota due to the color of their skin," Madel said in the video.

Meanwhile, after ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed Renee Nicole Good — a mother of three who Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quickly labeled a "domestic terrorist" with no evidence to back up the claim — both Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller declared that Ross and other federal agents had "immunity."

So, we have this army of ICE agents that feels empowered to bleach the color out of this nation of immigrants that has never liked immigrants, no matter where they hail from, and the White House tells them they have carte blanche to create havoc and mayhem because they enjoy immunity from prosecution.

What could possibly go wrong?

The murder of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital. That's what.

Following the second tragedy, Bovino tried to spin the truth as hard as he could — as if his career depended on it. He lied and deflected about whether Pretti actually threatened Border Patrol officers, two of whom pumped a total of 10 bullets into his lifeless body.

It would be good to find out what really happened. But good luck with that, given that Bovino appears to have quickly moved the Border Patrol officer who did the shooting out of Minnesota.

As someone who treats loyalty as a one-way street, Trump is obviously eager to turn the page and get rid of Bovino.

The diminutive border patrol supervisor gets no respect. He was even tagged "Little Napoleon" by immigrant rights activist and former Border Patrol agent Jenn Budd. She researched Bovino's early years on the job for a book and came away unimpressed.

For his part, Bovino didn't do himself any favors in media interviews or when he personally threw tear gas canisters into crowds of protesters. He also didn't have any empathy or compassion for those who were hurt, or even killed, by what resembles an overzealous and poorly trained militia.

Bovino used his 15 minutes of fame to earn himself at least 15 years of infamy. If you want a poster boy for the concept of incompetent leadership in law enforcement, this is your guy.

And the timing could work out. Since Little Napoleon might soon be changing his LinkedIn profile to read: "Open to Work."