America’s most notorious immigration enforcer has accused Donald Trump’s team of being too soft to carry out mass deportations, suggesting “they need to get out in the fight” rather than being driven by poor polls.
In a lengthy interview released on Tuesday, fired border patrol commander Greg Bovino also praised his former boss, Kristi Noem, the former Homeland Security Secretary, insisting she oversaw a highly successful deportation operation because only a few civilians were killed.
“I can’t think of an operation that went any smoother than the green team in those six cities,” he said, referring to border patrol operations in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Portland, Memphis, Chicago and Minneapolis.
The comments come weeks after Noem and Bovino were dumped after an incendiary stint punctuated by national protests, internal scandals, and the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
However, speaking to far-right activists Lauren Witzke and Edward Szall, Bovino lamented that immigration enforcement, now overseen by Noem’s replacement, Markwayne Mullins, and border czar Tom Homan, was being captured by “the status quo phenomenon”.
He said there was too much of a focus on pushing out “the worst of the worst” rather than deporting immigrants en masse, and hit out at the administration for not being tough enough.
“What is our will? Is our will to make America a stronger, safer, better place for Americans? Or is it to go along, get along, the status quo and not disrupt?” he said when asked about the decision to sideline Noem.
“When things get a little too dicey, it seems that some cut and run. But it wasn’t dicey because we were there for a year... No ICE or Border Patrol were killed, and very, very few civilian casualties took place.”
Bovino was the face of Trump’s first-year immigration crackdown, known for his bravado-fueled enforcement tactics and his long black SS-style trench coat, which critics such as Governor Gavin Newsom described as “Nazi cosplay.”
He was forced to retire at the end of March, with the administration adding insult to injury by revoking his access to his government social media accounts.
Noem was also ousted following a string of scandals, including a taxpayer-funded luxury jet and her management of DHS alongside her alleged lover, Corey Lewandowski.
The MAGA acolyte also found herself the subject of controversy over allegations that her husband lives a double life where he cross-dresses and chats online with fetish models.
The deaths of Good, a mother of three who was shot by an ICE agent in January, and Pretti, an ICU nurse who was gunned down by federal agents during an immigration operation two weeks later, also contributed to the pair being sidelined.
But in a 50-minute interview with Witzke and Szall, the former border patrol agent was unapologetic and described anti-ICE protesters as “cannon-fodder, a derogatory term for soldiers or individuals considered expendable.
He also took aim at Trump’s aides, saying that while the president was “the best deporter I’ve ever worked for... some of the team may not have some of the fortitude that President Trump has.”
“Everybody’s got their team they’re working for. And you know, I think that sometimes cold feet, whether that’s polling numbers or whatever, can come into play,” he said without naming names.
“And that’s too bad, because, again, this is for America. I don’t give a damn about polling numbers.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
