Ousted Border Patrol Honcho Greg Bovino Reveals What He Regrets in NYT Interview

(Angelina Katsanis/AP photo)

Recently ousted Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino said one of his few regrets is that he wished he’d “caught even more illegal aliens” while helping lead President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Bovino discussed his looming retirement and the work he performed in an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday.

“I mean, we went as hard as we could, but there’s always a creative and innovative solution to catching even more,” Bovino said.

The report said:

And, yes, the Commander has a few regrets. But he does not think he went too far. He thinks he did not go far enough.

“We wanted total border domination,” Mr. Bovino said one recent morning, leaning over a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon at Burgers and Beer, a sports bar and restaurant popular with El Centro’s federal agents. “When you use terms like that, perhaps it scares some of the weaker-minded people. Domination. I want you to dominate that border. I’m not going to ‘control’ it. We’re going to dominate the hell out of that damn place.”

Bovino spoke to The Times a week before his 30-year career as a Border Patrol agent ends. He was front and center during the first year of Trump’s second term, routinely appearing on Fox News to discuss the president’s push to deport illegal immigrants. His time as one of the nation’s top immigration enforcement officers came to an end in January, after he was criticized for saying Alex Pretti was aiming to “massacre” immigration agents before being shot and killed in Minnesota.

The Times report said Bovino “did not regret his claim” about Pretti. It also said he “disagreed with the message” that was sent by pulling immigration agents from Minnesota.

He does not appear to hold a grudge against Trump for the decision to pull him and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, though. Bovino said it was nice to have received “a lot of kudos from the Trumpster” during his second term.

Bovino also had kind words for Noem, who is also on her way out at the end of the month. “Best secretary I’ve ever worked for, bar none,” he said.

His plan now? Hunting coyotes in the North Carolina backcountry.

The Times added, “He clarified that he meant the four-legged kind, ‘not the coyotes that smuggle aliens,’ but the mission still felt familiar.”

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