Prominent Border Patrol Chief Emerges As “Fall Guy” For Fatal Minnesota Officer-Involved Shooting
Image Courtesy of Voice of San Diego
By Patrick D. Lewis
After backing federal immigration agents without reserve amid the nationwide horror at the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump and his administration appear to be taking a more measured approach in their reaction to the latest fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement.
After agents with the U.S. Border Patrol fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse with the Department of Veterans Affairs, on the streets of Minneapolis earlier this week, leaders again confronted a public calling for the withdrawal of federal assets from Minnesota and an impartial investigation into the shooting by state officials.
Days after the shooting, Trump began publicly supporting a thorough investigation of the incident, a position that clashed with that of his Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, who characterized Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” at a press conference. Both Noem and Border Patrol Deputy Chief Greg Bovino, who was occupying the position of “Commander at Large” of operations in Minnesota when the shooting happened, said it appeared that Pretti, who was armed with a pistol, wanted to “massacre” law enforcement.
Multiple videos exist of the fatal shooting. Taken together, they appear to show that an agent removed the gun from Pretti one to two seconds before the first shot rang out, meaning he was unarmed when he was killed.
A number of Democratic lawmakers have called for the impeachment of Noem, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will direct his caucus to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which include Border Patrol and ICE, when government appropriations expire at the end of the month.
Now, Bovino, who drew criticism for his X posts tangling with the media and left-leaning officials, as well as for his statements in the wake of the shootings of Good and Pretti, appears to have been blocked from accessing his social media accounts and will reportedly be reassigned to his old post in California, losing his status as Commander at Large. The move is widely seen as a slap in the face to the senior Border Patrol agent who had become the face of the administration’s immigration crackdowns in Chicago, Minneapolis, and other cities.
Meanwhile, Trump said he still supports Noem, and it appears that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who is the lead advisor to Trump for immigration matters, will retain that portfolio as well, a sign that the overall immigration enforcement strategy is likely to continue, with Bovino’s de facto demotion perhaps the only negative result of the shooting of Pretti.
Tom Homan, the White House “border czar” who previously led ICE operations and other immigration efforts, is now the on-the-ground commander in Minneapolis, where Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz said they had had conversations with Homan and Trump in which the administration indicated that some federal assets would be withdrawn from the city.
