Ousted border chief exposed for unhinged phone call that left lawyers 'deeply unsettled'

Greg Bovino, formally the face of Border Patrol and President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown before his demotion earlier this week, was exposed Saturday for making “disparaging remarks” to a Trump-nominated prosecutor over their Jewish faith, The New York Times reported.

Bovino spoke by phone on Jan. 12 with U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen, an Orthodox Jew, and lawyers from Rosen’s office about what Bovino alleged was their lack of cooperation with Border Patrol’s immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis. During the call, according to several anonymous sources who spoke with the Times, Bovino lashed out at Rosen by making “derisive remarks” about his Jewish faith.

“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,” the Times reported. “He also asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Rosen understood that Orthodox Jewish criminals don’t take weekends off, the people said.”

Beyond the moral concerns Bovino’s disparaging remarks raised among lawyers at Rosen’s office, they also sparked a “potential legal dilemma,” the Times reported. According to a 1972 Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors are obligated to disclose information in certain legal cases 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.”

In practical terms, the ruling could require prosecutors who are aware of Bovino’s remarks to disclose them to defendants arrested by Bovino, since the comments could be used to challenge his credibility as a witness.

Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin snapped at the Times when asked for comment on Bovino’s alleged remarks, refusing to comment on the allegations directly, and instead ridiculed the publication for even covering it.

“Instead of focusing on gossip, why don’t you focus on something actually important like the victims of illegal alien crime or the criminals taken out of Minneapolis communities?” McLaughlin told the Times.