Before the tear gas, before the courtroom findings, before the retirement announcement — there was a phone call. On January 12, Gregory Bovino dialed into a meeting meant to line up federal prosecutors behind his immigration operation in Minnesota. What happened on that call, and a separate fight already playing out in a Chicago courtroom, are now at the center of two misconduct threads that Customs and Border Protection was actively investigating right up until the day the agency's most visible field commander walked away.
Internal documents examined by CBS News show CBP notified Bovino by email on March 2 that it was opening a formal inquiry into misconduct allegations against him. Sixteen days later, he submitted paperwork to retire and relocate. The records, pried loose through a Freedom of Information Act request first reported by the Chicago Tribune, spell out in writing exactly what investigators wanted him to answer for — far more specific than the vague statements CBP gave publicly at the time.
