On January 24, Border Patrol agents murdered Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Pretti was trying to help two women – women being assaulted by Border Patrol agents – and the agents dragged Pretti into the street and shot him repeatedly in the back. Within days, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino was demoted and “sent home” to California. Bovino was one of the guys “in charge” of the federal operation in Minneapolis. The operation was explicitly to wreak havoc, to terrorize Minnesotans, to rip the community apart. Sending a federal paramilitary into an American city to murder Americans was absolutely part of Donald Trump’s agenda. Still, it’s sort of remarkable that Bovino was too much of a murderous Nazi thug for the Trump administration. Before Bovino was ordered to leave Minneapolis, he apparently mocked the Trump-appointed US Attorney in Minneapolis for… being an Orthodox Jew and observing Shabbat.
A day before six career federal prosecutors resigned in protest over the Justice Department’s handling of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, lawyers in the office had a conversation with Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol field leader, that left them deeply unsettled.
According to several people with knowledge of the telephone conversation, which took place on Jan. 12, Mr. Bovino made derisive remarks about the faith of the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, Daniel N. Rosen. Mr. Rosen is an Orthodox Jew and observes Shabbat, a period of rest between Friday and Saturday nights that often includes refraining from using electronic devices.
Mr. Bovino, who has been the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, used the term “chosen people” in a mocking way, according to the people with knowledge of the call. He also asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Rosen understood that Orthodox Jewish criminals don’t take weekends off, the people said.
Mr. Bovino had requested the meeting with Mr. Rosen to press the Minnesota office to work more aggressively to seek criminal charges against people Mr. Bovino believed were unlawfully impeding the work of his immigration agents.
Mr. Rosen delegated the call to a deputy. During the call, with a handful of prosecutors listening in, Mr. Bovino complained that Mr. Rosen had been unreachable for portions of the weekend because of Shabbat. Mr. Bovino’s remarks followed his complaints about having difficulty reaching Mr. Rosen.
Mr. Bovino’s comments raised judgment concerns, but also a potential legal dilemma for government lawyers. Based on a 1972 Supreme Court decision in a case known as Giglio, prosecutors have an obligation to disclose certain information to the defense that could call into question the integrity and character of a law enforcement officer who is involved in an arrest and called as a witness in a trial.
This is one of the biggest “fork found in kitchen” moments of the past year. Yes, when you hire a guy who looks and acts like a Nazi, you can’t be surprised when he’s derisive about observant or orthodox Jewish people. “We thought he just hated Black people and immigrants, we never thought he’d also be an antisemite who murders white Americans” is not actually a legitimate Republican defense. Anyway, I’m glad that it sounds like the US Attorney’s office in Minneapolis is pretty understaffed these days.
Photos courtesy of Getty.