Top US Border Patrol official removed from his role: Report

WASHINGTON

Gregory Bovino was removed from his role as the "commander at large" for the US Border Patrol, The Atlantic reported Monday.

Citing a Homeland Security official and two people with knowledge of the change, the American magazine said Bovino will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon.

Bovino’s apparent abrupt removal would mark the strongest indication so far that the Trump administration is pulling back from its hardline approach following Saturday’s killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a US citizen and intensive care nurse in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by a Border Patrol agent operating under his authority, according to the report.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her close adviser Corey Lewandowski, who were Bovino’s biggest backers at the department, are also at risk of losing their jobs, the report said.

Earlier Monday, US President Donald Trump said he is dispatching border czar Tom Homan to the state of Minnesota as tensions escalate following two fatal shootings this month in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement agents.

The White House said Homan will be managing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations on the ground in Minnesota “to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”

Trump separately said that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz requested cooperation on criminal enforcement, adding they "seemed to be on a similar wavelength" during a "very good" phone call.

The president also said he had a phone call with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, with whom Homan will be meeting on Tuesday.