Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino was ousted Monday amid the fallout from the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, but on Tuesday, journalist Peter Rothpletz warned that the Trump administration was “scapegoating” Bovino in an effort to shield both itself and Pretti’s killer from accountability.
“There is no true accountability until we know who killed Alex Pretti,” Rothpletz wrote in an analysis published in Zeteo. “The man was allowed to abscond from the Twin Cities and is now working in his official capacity, likely still armed, elsewhere.”
Ripped by Rothpletz as a "glorified Gestapo commander,” Bovino was ordered to leave Minnesota Monday by the Trump admin after his widely condemned response to Pretti’s killing. Without evidence, Bovino claimed that Pretti – who was beaten and fatally shot by Border Patrol officers Saturday – “wanted to massacre law enforcement.”
Beyond his demotion, Bovino was also stripped of his access to social media – where the day after Pretti’s killing he had engaged in online fights with Republican lawmakers and critics – and is reportedly headed for retirement, The Atlantic reported.
And, while Rothpletz championed Bovino’s ousting, he also cautioned that it very well may be an effort by the Trump administration to protect itself and Pretti’s killer, who remains unidentified and has not been placed on administrative leave as is typical for members of law enforcement after using deadly force.
“This is, of course, outrageous. For one, anyone who has ever watched but a single episode of “Law & Order” knows that proper agents of the state are placed on administrative leave after any encounter that ends in a death,” Rothpletz wrote. “For two, said agent is usually named. The public knows their identity. There is no true accountability until we know who murdered Alex Pretti.”
Bovino was asked Monday about the identity of Pretti’s killer, to which he told reporters that the individual had been allowed to resume their regular duties outside of Minneapolis, and that Border Patrol would not be releasing their name. For Rothpletz, Bovino’s admission was unacceptable, and he called for not just Pretti’s killer to be named, but for the firing of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
“Fire Noem. Fire Miller. Identify and prosecute Pretti’s killer,” Rothplez wrote. “And let’s please not pretend that the buck for all of this doesn’t stop with Donald ‘day of reckoning and retribution is coming’ [President Donald] Trump.”