Ex-border patrol chief defends his record after exit: ‘I wish I’d caught more illegal aliens’

Key Points:

• Gregory Bovino, former US Border Patrol commander-at-large, criticized the Trump administration's immigration crackdown as insufficient and expressed no remorse over federal agents' killings of two US citizens in January.
• Bovino, who led Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, was demoted after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both under investigation, and announced his retirement effective at the end of March.
• He advocated for aggressive tactics to "dominate" the border, admitted to using derogatory language about undocumented immigrants, and dismissed warnings about potential fatalities resulting from his methods.
• Bovino faced backlash from political figures and civil rights groups, is under internal investigation for disparaging a Jewish prosecutor, and is involved in multiple lawsuits related to his conduct.
• Post-retirement, Bovino plans to focus on environmental efforts against invasive species threatening local wildlife in North Carolina, distinguishing this from human smuggling issues.