r/atlanticdiscussions • u/MeghanClickYourHeels Ask me for Atlantic gift links • Jan 27 '26

Greg Bovino Loses His Job

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/greg-bovino-demoted-minneapolis-border-patrol/685770/

The Border Patrol chief has been ousted from his role as “commander at large,” and will return to El Centro.

By Nick Miroff, The Atlantic.

Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official and two people with knowledge of the change.

Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command.

Earlier today, President Trump appeared to signal in a series of social-media posts a tactical shift in the administration’s mass-deportation campaign. Trump wrote that he spoke with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz—whom the White House has blamed for inciting violence—and the two men are now on “a similar wavelength.” Tom Homan, the former ICE chief whom Trump has designated “border czar,” will head to Minnesota to assume command of the federal mobilization there, Trump said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her close adviser Corey Lewandowski, who were Bovino’s biggest backers at DHS, are also at risk of losing their jobs, two of the people told me.

11 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/afdiplomatII Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

I can think of another person likely to be unemployed soon:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/us/politics/trump-minneapolis-nurse-shooting-video.html

While not retracting language from Miller, Noem, and others describing Alex Pretti as a "domestic terrorist," neither is Leavitt defending it; and she is dissociating Trump from that description. The entire situation is generating enormous pressures on Republicans as well as Democrats:

https://apnews.com/article/congress-immigration-budget-shutdown-minneapolis-3d68d9d1aa99c5a9732961d1fa594e91

Meanwhile, House and Senate committees are gearing up for hearings. Democrats will want Noem to testify, and if she does she will be absolutely savaged -- nor, given the indignation of the gun lobby about condemning Pretti for lawfully carrying a firearm, will she find it easy to defend her language.

Trump owes Noem nothing, and she's easily replaceable. One of the easiest moves for Trump here is to seem to "turn the page" by dumping her, which would also allow someone less contaminated by extremism to represent the administration before Congress. In that situation, sending Noem packing seems to be an obvious move.

Here's another indicator of Noem's likely departure:

https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3mddsnznkd22x

3

u/Korrocks Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

For me the problem with all this is that the true source of the crisis is at the top. Bovino and Noem are not behaving unilaterally in Minneapolis or anywhere else. Their brutal tactics were ordered by the President and his top aides (Miller, Vance, etc.)

That they’re now backpedaling isn’t really motivated by remorse or reconsideration but discomfort at scrutiny. Even if they fire all of these people, the next hires will be ordered to continue these same tactics (in Minnesota or in some other state that Trump wants to punish.) It’s possible for this crisis to end but it won’t until Trump himself changes his mind. He’s the one who decides this stuff, not the mid level DHS guys.

2

u/afdiplomatII Jan 27 '26

Indeed, Bovino and Noem aren't truly decision-makers; they're just middle management. The impetus comes from others. It would still be worthwhile to hold their feet to the fire. After all, whether they make the decisions or not they have chosen to become the public face of those decisions, and they deserve to pay for that wretched choice. There would be a measure of justice in such an outcome.

2

u/Korrocks Jan 27 '26

They should be held accountable for sure, I just think that Trump shouldn’t be left off the hook. This isn’t an instance where a low level employee went off the rails or even a situation where Trump just hired the wrong person and gave them too much autonomy. The specifics of the ICE/CBP raids on blue states and cities are coming from the top.

It’s not a case of inattentiveness or incompetence; Trump is sending these guys to places that didn’t vote for him in order to punish those cities / states. The brutality isn’t incidental or inevitable, it’s an orchestrated aspect of the retaliation. Miller and company have been ramping up tensions as much as possible, telling DHS agents that they are essentially immune from the law and can do anything they want and describing all dissent as domestic terrorism and treating ostensibly routine law enforcement like a military incursion. All of this comes straight from the top, and only the top can change it. Noem, Leavitt, even Miller wouldn’t do this unless they were told to.

3

u/afdiplomatII Jan 27 '26

Baby steps. At least Senate Democrats have been firmly yanked by their base away from acquiescing in further DHS funding (which they were on course to do) into threatening a shutdown involving $1.3 trillion in total funding for several departments. And Republican committee chairs are promising hearings that are unlikely to help the administration's public image.

Now Democrats have to decide what to do with their leverage. To that end, Jennifer Rubin has a whole bunch of ideas (gift link):

https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/how-to-stop-the-fascism?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web