The Trump administration has shut down three social media accounts that recently retired Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino had renamed to reflect his personal title and refused to return despite their status as federal property.
The Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts for the Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, sector, which carried a combined following of 850,000, were taken offline mid-Thursday after operating earlier that day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
"Chief Patrol Agent Bovino has retired from federal service and no longer has access to official government social media accounts," a CBP spokesperson wrote in an email, reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
The shutdown occurred on the first full day in office for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a senior department official confirmed.
It ended a monthslong internal dispute in which Bovino, who oversaw one of 20 Border Patrol sectors nationwide, treated the government-owned pages as his own after using them to post approved updates and videos.
Bovino had led agents from El Centro to Los Angeles in July 2025 during protests over federal immigration enforcement.
He shifted the accounts’ focus to those operations and later traveled with a video team to other cities.
On Aug. 4, 2025, he announced he would rename the pages to highlight his personal role, officials familiar with the matter said.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott ordered him to restore the original sector names and create new accounts for Bovino’s broader duties.
Bovino refused, contending the followers belonged to him.
Corey Lewandowski, then serving as a special government employee under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, allegedly shielded Bovino from disciplinary steps, according to people briefed on the communications.
The El Centro sector responded by launching replacement accounts in early September 2025; those pages have attracted just 11,000 followers combined.
Bovino was reassigned from a high-profile operation in Minneapolis in January after two fatal shootings involving federal officers.
He returned to California and retired in late March.
In his final weeks, he sat for a New York Times interview that described his work across multiple cities.
The original accounts now display no content.
The department acted to reclaim control of its communications platforms as Noem’s tenure ended, the senior official said.
The original pages had enabled public updates on sector operations that the replacement accounts could not match in terms of reach.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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