A senior U.S. Border Patrol official at the center of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is accused of making antisemitic remarks about a Jewish federal prosecutor during a high-level planning call.

Gregory Bovino, a veteran Border Patrol leader who oversaw the recent surge of federal immigration agents in Minnesota, allegedly used offensive language toward Jewish officials during a Jan. 12 call involving multiple federal agencies, according to several sources familiar with the conversation who spoke to the New York Times and CBS News. The call took place just days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis and was intended to coordinate a Saturday meeting to address escalating tensions tied to immigration operations in the region.

According to the sources, Bovino was informed during the call that Daniel Rosen — the U.S. attorney for Minnesota and an Orthodox Jew — could not attend the proposed Saturday meeting because he observes the Sabbath. One participant recalled Bovino responding with audible frustration, asking, “Do Orthodox criminals also take off on Saturday?” The same source said Bovino used the phrase “chosen people” in a disparaging way.

Another official briefed on the call described Bovino’s comments as an “antisemitic rant.”

Accounts of the incident were relayed to Pam Bondi and senior officials at the Department of Justice, as well as the White House, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Bovino’s leadership style — often described by colleagues as brusque — had already raised concerns. Those concerns surfaced publicly last year in Chicago, where Bovino, then serving as a Border Patrol “commander-at-large,” clashed with the judiciary during deportation operations. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis criticized Bovino’s conduct while issuing an injunction limiting agents’ use of force. In a written opinion, Ellis said Bovino “appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing ‘cute’ responses to the Plaintiffs’ counsel’s questions or outright lying.” A federal appeals court later paused the injunction.

Bovino was relieved of his command in Minneapolis last week following intense backlash over the federal response to the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by two Customs and Border Protection officers. On the day of the shooting, Bovino publicly suggested that Pretti appeared intent on “maximum damage” and a potential “massacre” of law enforcement, citing the presence of a handgun. Witness accounts and video later contradicted key aspects of that narrative. Within days, a report submitted to Congress omitted any claim that Pretti had reached for his weapon.

Bovino is now being reassigned to his former post as chief agent in California’s El Centro sector, a role he held before being deployed by the Trump administration to major cities including Los Angeles and Chicago to lead sweeping immigration enforcement actions.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)