Former U.S. Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino said he believes people at the top of the Department of Homeland Security “want me dead.”
In an interview published Wednesday with conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson, Mr. Bovino said that right after his exit as commander at large in March, his security detail was pulled.
On top of what he said were death threats, he said the purpose of scrapping his entourage was to “silence” him.
“Do I think they want me dead at this point? Yes,” he said.
Mr. Bovino pointed the finger at U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott and border czar Tom Homan for revoking his security detail.
After what Mr. Bovino calls “the surrender in Minnesota” — an aggressive Border Patrol operation in Minneapolis that led to the deaths of two Americans — he was relieved of his command and returned to his post as chief of California’s El Centro sector, where he says an investigation into him began right away.
The first probe stemmed from a Chicago federal judge’s finding that he lied in court, which he disputes, noting the judge’s ruling was vacated by a higher court.
That case was referred to a disciplinary review board, which recommended it be closed. CBP leadership then bypassed that outcome, Mr. Bovino said, and opened a separate internal affairs investigation on the same lack-of-candor allegation.
A second investigation followed, accusing him of antisemitism over a “chosen ones” remark he says he made in a “sarcastic,” Bible-study-derived context.
He said he retired shortly after, once his attorney advised him the situation was untenable, and that within a day of leaving, his security detail was pulled despite what he describes as high-level threats against him.
Mr. Bovino also asserted that there are “107 million illegal aliens currently residing with impunity in the United States.”
Independent estimates range from 12 million to a record 14 million as of 2023.
He said his methodology is not a formal count but an extrapolation from traffic-commute studies in Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, plus school absentee rates.
Mr. Bovino also alleged that federal immigration agents are letting illegal immigrants go during operations.
“No wonder they want to kill you,” Mr. Carlson said in response.
The Washington Times requested a response from DHS.
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