Retired Border Patrol Chief and former CBP Commander Gregory Bovino received the cold shoulder from liberal members of the Boone, North Carolina, community. Bovino says most in the Appalachian community have welcomed him, but he is not being received too kindly by those on the left in the town where he lived before joining the Border Patrol.
The seasoned Border Patrol veteran provided Breitbart Texas with a video he took at a county government-run recreational facility where he was approached by a woman who he says was not very happy about seeing him in town, which he once called home. In the video, the woman approaches Bovino and tells him, “I hope with you leaving the position you were in that you are more concerned about how you are treating immigrants now.”
Bovino responded, saying, “You mean illegal aliens or immigrants? I always treated immigrants great, big difference.”
The woman, sporting pink-purplish hair, tightly grasped a cup adorned with a Che Guevara sticker as she questioned Bovino about the measures employed against Rene Good and Alex Pretti that she referred to as murders, alleging that the incidents were the result of Bovino’s “turn and burn” immigration tactics.
The woman went on to tell Bovino, “You’re not welcome in our city.”
Bovino told the woman later in the video, “I’ll come here whenever I want to and do what I want to, just like you can.”
The woman ended her verbal confrontation with the retired Border Patrol Chief by saying, “I’m glad you’re comfortable with your position here and protecting a pedophile.”
Bovino had the last word, saying, “I love protecting America, thank you, ma’am, nice hair.”
Shortly after the incident on Friday, the Watauga, North Carolina, Chapter of the National Indivisible organization posted a picture of Bovino working out at the Watauga County recreational facility on its public Facebook page. The post showed the retired Border Patrol Chief on an exercise machine, with a caption reading “Spotted at the Watauga Rec. Center” above the photo.
A host of comments accompanied the post from people who were unhappy with Bovino’s presence at the facility. One person responded:
I have seen him there twice now and have taken to staring him down and making comments when I pass him to let him know his actions are well known and despised. In a small way, I hope to let him know he is being watched and hope he is at least uncomfortable, given the horrors he has inflicted on others.
In another comment, one reader of the post said, “That SOB should never have a moment’s peace in public.”
The administrator of the Indivisible Watauga NC public Facebook page did nothing to dissuade commenters from posting the insults and warned that the retired law enforcement chief could still pose a threat to the community, posting a reply to one comment that read:
Bovino can still call his former employees at CBP and report anyone he sees at the rec center he doesn’t like and ask his colleagues to kidnap, transport and detain them in a concentration camp without due process. So the more folks know the places he frequents, the more they can protect themselves, their family members, friends, and colleagues from his capacity to do harm.
Despite the warm welcome Bovino has received from most residents in Boone, he says there is a faction of hard-left liberals who despise any law enforcement whatsoever, including immigration. “These are the same people who disrupted and assaulted our agents in Minnesota; they are like-minded and the very reason we ceased our immigration operations in Minneapolis. They are dangerous and won’t hesitate to use violence to get their way,” Bovino told Breitbart Texas.
Bovino says these actions should help people understand why federal law enforcement agents from ICE and CBP began wearing face masks while enforcing immigration laws enacted by Congress. “These people would be more than willing to confront you while out in public. They would not care if you were alone or with your family, either,” he emphasized.
The local Indivisible chapter in Watauga County was founded in 2024. The public Facebook page links to the Indivisible High-Country website, the northwestern North Carolina regional hub for Indivisible. The posting of Bovino’s activities in Boone appears to run afoul of the code of conduct on the Indivisible regional website, adopted by the Indivisible Watauga leadership in 2025.
Several provisions within the code read, “Make sure everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn’t allowed,” and “To maintain our good reputation and ensure that all feel welcome to participate in our community, we will treat everyone with respect, including those with whom we may not agree.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.