Bovino courts controversy with salute as he criticizes Trump team at far-right meeting
Former Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, who gained notoriety for his violent tactics, trolling tendencies and racist rhetoric while leading the Trump administration’s deadly anti-immigrant crackdown in Chicago, Los Angeles and Minnesota, continues to court controversy as he and other extremists urge the president to deport more people.
Bovino is not technically a member of the conglomerate of Trump-aligned groups known as the “Mass Deportation Coalition,” which wants the president to ratchet up his administration’s assault on immigrants. But the former Border Patrol chief is in ideological lockstep with the far-right coalition, which has begun to pressure Trump and other federal officials to pursue its deportation agenda more vigorously.
In the past, Bovino has reposted a blog by a pseudonymous neo-Nazi propaganda on social media, drawn criticism from the governor of California for his “SS garb” — which Bovino said is a “Border Patrol issue” — and name-checked Nazi general Erwin Rommel in an interview with a far-right website ahead of the weekend’s event. He did little to quell the Nazi comparisons on Friday when he posted a photo of himself saluting immigration officials in New Jersey with what critics interpreted as a Nazi salute.
Bovino said “the world” supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents despite ample evidence that Trump’s anti-immigration tactics have been a key driver of his putrid polling numbers in the first half of this year.
His message was addressed to ICE agents at the Delaney Hall ICE facility in New Jersey, where Democratic Sen. Andy Kim was recently pepper-sprayed by agents while attempting to conduct an oversight visit. Bovino’s salute came as law enforcement engaged in violent clashes with demonstrators protesting alleged poor conditions and abuse at the facility.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
