Los Angeles.- Gregory Bovino, the face of the controversial mass migration operations promoted by President Donald Trump in which two U.S. citizens died, announced his retirement after applying in large cities tactics traditionally used on the border with Mexico, U.S. media reported on Monday.
The 55-year-old chief of the Border Patrol in El Centro (California) will retire from federal service at the end of this month.
The announcement comes days after the dismissal of Kristi Noem, in charge of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for mass arrest and deportation operations, which generated strong protests in which two citizens died at the hands of immigration agents.
Criticism After Pretti’s Death
In 2025, Bovino was assigned by the White House to direct large-scale migration operations in major cities, primarily governed by Democrats, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Minneapolis, the latter city where Americans Renée Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti, both 37 years old, died.
The death of Pretti, at the hands of agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the command of Bovino, triggered a wave of criticism, including among members of the Republican Party, and forced the White House to return Bovino to his post on the border between California and Mexico last January.
Without presenting evidence, Bovino rushed to say that Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents because he was armed. But witness videos showed that the American did not try to draw the weapon he was carrying with a permit, and that another officer had removed the weapon from his waist.
The two CBP agents who shot the American were suspended while an investigation is conducted.
Sources close to Bovino confirmed to CBS that the officer is retiring after a decades-long career.
A retired CBP officer, who did not want to be identified, highlights to EFE Bovino’s fidelity to his convictions and his alignment with Trump to promote immigration operations that created protests due to the aggressiveness because “he was about to retire”.
