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Once compared to a Confederate general, Greg Bovino faced discrimination lawsuit in New Orleans
Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Border Patrol official who emerged as a face of the federal government's immigration dragnet and led the agency's monthlong sweep through south Louisiana, faced questions in a 2019 discrimination lawsuit filed in New Orleans about an email in which a subordinate compared him to a Confederate Army general.
Bovino’s response: The message, which he received a few months before assuming leadership of Border Patrol’s New Orleans sector, had nothing to do with race.
Christopher Bullock, a friend and colleague from Bovino’s tenure in the El Centro, California Border Patrol sector, sent the note in May 2018. The messages surfaced in the discrimination lawsuit filed the following year in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Bovino was questioned about them in a 2020 deposition.
"Oh jeez. DELETE!!!!" Bovino wrote in response to the email, court records show.
He said in the deposition he believes there was nothing racist about the message. He added that it was “not relative to the mission” and "worthless."
Bovino did not report the email to superiors at the Department of Homeland Security, he acknowledged in the deposition. He was assigned later that year to lead the New Orleans sector, a role in which he oversaw agency operations across 362,000 square miles stretching from New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle.
There, he would tap Bullock, who was still in El Centro, for a top position in the New Orleans office. The move triggered at least two discrimination complaints from career Border Patrol officials in the New Orleans sector who argued in court filings that they had been blocked from consideration for promotions because they are Black.
While leading the federal government's recent immigration sweeps in Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and Minneapolis, Bovino emerged as an enthusiastic spokesperson of the deportation push from President Donald Trump's administration.
Federal court filings from the case shed new light on a little-known period of Bovino's career as he led Border Patrol operations for two years across the Gulf Coast.
Spokespeople for Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about the case.
Bovino would return to the El Centro sector in Southern California before being named "at large" commander in 2025 after Trump's second inauguration. But he was stripped of his "at-large" title this week amid mounting scrutiny over Border Patrol agents' fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester, Alex Pretti.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported Friday on the emails between Bovino and Bullock.
Bullock's May 2018 email to Bovino included a photo of General William Mahone, a Confederate States Army general from Virginia, and captioned it "Chief Bovino."
The email contained two additional photos: One showing Civil War reenactors dressed in gray Confederate Army uniforms grouped around a Confederate battle flag, and another showing Black union Army soldiers at an artillery position during the war.
U.S. Border Patrol agents gather outside of their vehicles as Chief Patrol Agent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Gregory Bovino, right enter, travels through Metairie and Kenner on day one of the "Catahoula Crunch" sweeps on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune) PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER▲
Bullock captioned the photo of the Confederate reenactors "NLL all hands meeting.” He captioned the photo of the Union soldiers "NLL Sector HQ." NLL is the code name for Border Patrol's New Orleans sector.
A St. Tammany attorney for the two Black Border Patrol officials who filed discrimination claims, Kevin Vogeltanz, wrote in a court filing that the photo of Confederate reenactors represented the New Orleans sector's mostly-White rank-and-file. The Union artillerymen represented senior officials in the sector who were ethnic minorities, including the officials Vogeltanz represented, he argued.
The officials, Jon Joyner and Randolph Williams, settled their discrimination claims in 2022 for undisclosed amounts, court records show. Their current status at the agency is unclear. Vogeltanz did not immediately respond to phone and e-mailed messages about the case. He represented two other Border Patrol agents in additional discrimination cases involving Bovino, which also yielded settlements.
DHS lawyers opened an internal probe after receiving a complaint of "confederate images" attached to official communications, documents show.
Bullock told a DHS agent assigned to that probe that he sent the images because Bovino is a "history buff who applies instances in American history to different … work-related situations." He added that the email was intended to "poke fun at Bovino since the New Orleans sector is behind the times in comparison to other sectors."
Bullock said he believed that racism is "not appropriate in America." He could not immediately be reached.
In his 2020 deposition, Bovino said he did not believe Bullock had intended for the email to offend anyone.
"I ascribed very little meaning to this because I received many, many emails each day," Bovino said. "When I receive an email like this, typically, it goes to the recycle bin."
Asked repeatedly if the emails could be perceived as racist or "racially tinged," Bovino said, "no."
"In perusing the email that he sent me, I did not find any racial connotations that would lead me to open an investigation for Mr. Bullock," he said.
Bovino and Bullock appear to have been associates since at least the 2010s. A listing for the 2014 film "La Migra" on the film website IMDB acknowledges and thanks Bullock and Bovino as contributors to the production.
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Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Border Patrol official who emerged as a face of the federal government's immigration dragnet and led the agency's monthlong sweep through south Louisiana, faced questions in a 2019 discrimination lawsuit filed in New Orleans about an email in which a subordinate compared him to a Confederate Army general.
Bovino’s response: The message, which he received a few months before assuming leadership of Border Patrol’s New Orleans sector, had nothing to do with race.
Christopher Bullock, a friend and colleague from Bovino’s tenure in the El Centro, California Border Patrol sector, sent the note in May 2018. The messages surfaced in the discrimination lawsuit filed the following year in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Bovino was questioned about them in a 2020 deposition.
"Oh jeez. DELETE!!!!" Bovino wrote in response to the email, court records show.
He said in the deposition he believes there was nothing racist about the message. He added that it was “not relative to the mission” and "worthless."
Bovino did not report the email to superiors at the Department of Homeland Security, he acknowledged in the deposition. He was assigned later that year to lead the New Orleans sector, a role in which he oversaw agency operations across 362,000 square miles stretching from New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle.
There, he would tap Bullock, who was still in El Centro, for a top position in the New Orleans office. The move triggered at least two discrimination complaints from career Border Patrol officials in the New Orleans sector who argued in court filings that they had been blocked from consideration for promotions because they are Black.
While leading the federal government's recent immigration sweeps in Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and Minneapolis, Bovino emerged as an enthusiastic spokesperson of the deportation push from President Donald Trump's administration.
Federal court filings from the case shed new light on a little-known period of Bovino's career as he led Border Patrol operations for two years across the Gulf Coast.
Spokespeople for Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about the case.
Bovino would return to the El Centro sector in Southern California before being named "at large" commander in 2025 after Trump's second inauguration. But he was stripped of his "at-large" title this week amid mounting scrutiny over Border Patrol agents' fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester, Alex Pretti.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported Friday on the emails between Bovino and Bullock.
Bullock's May 2018 email to Bovino included a photo of General William Mahone, a Confederate States Army general from Virginia, and captioned it "Chief Bovino."
The email contained two additional photos: One showing Civil War reenactors dressed in gray Confederate Army uniforms grouped around a Confederate battle flag, and another showing Black union Army soldiers at an artillery position during the war.
U.S. Border Patrol agents gather outside of their vehicles as Chief Patrol Agent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Gregory Bovino, right enter, travels through Metairie and Kenner on day one of the "Catahoula Crunch" sweeps on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune) PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER▲
Bullock captioned the photo of the Confederate reenactors "NLL all hands meeting.” He captioned the photo of the Union soldiers "NLL Sector HQ." NLL is the code name for Border Patrol's New Orleans sector.
A St. Tammany attorney for the two Black Border Patrol officials who filed discrimination claims, Kevin Vogeltanz, wrote in a court filing that the photo of Confederate reenactors represented the New Orleans sector's mostly-White rank-and-file. The Union artillerymen represented senior officials in the sector who were ethnic minorities, including the officials Vogeltanz represented, he argued.
The officials, Jon Joyner and Randolph Williams, settled their discrimination claims in 2022 for undisclosed amounts, court records show. Their current status at the agency is unclear. Vogeltanz did not immediately respond to phone and e-mailed messages about the case. He represented two other Border Patrol agents in additional discrimination cases involving Bovino, which also yielded settlements.
DHS lawyers opened an internal probe after receiving a complaint of "confederate images" attached to official communications, documents show.
Bullock told a DHS agent assigned to that probe that he sent the images because Bovino is a "history buff who applies instances in American history to different … work-related situations." He added that the email was intended to "poke fun at Bovino since the New Orleans sector is behind the times in comparison to other sectors."
Bullock said he believed that racism is "not appropriate in America." He could not immediately be reached.
In his 2020 deposition, Bovino said he did not believe Bullock had intended for the email to offend anyone.
"I ascribed very little meaning to this because I received many, many emails each day," Bovino said. "When I receive an email like this, typically, it goes to the recycle bin."
Asked repeatedly if the emails could be perceived as racist or "racially tinged," Bovino said, "no."
"In perusing the email that he sent me, I did not find any racial connotations that would lead me to open an investigation for Mr. Bullock," he said.
Bovino and Bullock appear to have been associates since at least the 2010s. A listing for the 2014 film "La Migra" on the film website IMDB acknowledges and thanks Bullock and Bovino as contributors to the production.
#local
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