Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino has made several startling statements in the wake of the deadly Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti Saturday, though one in particular was singled over the weekend by the Minnesota Department of Corrections as being blatantly untrue.
Speaking to NewsNation, Bovino said that ahead of the fatal shooting of Pretti – who was pepper sprayed, beaten and shot several times – Border Patrol officers were conducting an operation to arrest Jose Huerta-Chuma, who Bovino said had a criminal history including domestic assault, The Hill reported Sunday.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections, however, soon released a statement refuting Bovino’s claim, citing its own records that showed Huerta-Chuma had no criminal history in the state. Furthermore, the agency revealed that Huerta-Chuma had been apprehended by federal immigration officials during President Donald Trump’s first administration, and was subsequently released.
“DOC records further indicate that an individual by this name was previously held in federal immigration custody in a local Minnesota jail in 2018, during President Trump’s first administration,” the agency said in a statement, The Hill reported.
“Any decisions regarding release from federal custody at that time would have been made by federal authorities. DOC has no information explaining why this individual was released.”
Other notable remarks made by Bovino in the wake of Pretti’s killing include his assertion – made without providing evidence – that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” and that the actual “victims” of the altercation were the Border Patrol agents who killed Pretti.
Federal immigration officials continue to swarm Minneapolis, Minnesota by the thousands, and are being met with fierce opposition from locals, some of whom have clashed with law enforcement.