President Donald Trump’s boots-on-the-ground Border Patrol official congratulated an officer shortly after he shot a Chicago woman five times, according to messages released by federal prosecutors.
“In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!” Bovino wrote in an email to the officer on October 4, just hours after shooting 30-year-old Marimar Martinez.
A federal judge granted the release of the messages and other documents in connection with a now-defunct criminal case against Marimar Martinez, a teacher’s assistant and U.S. citizen, who was accused of assaulting officers with her car during the Trump administration’s surge into Chicago last year.
In text messages after the shooting, Border Patrol officer Charles Exum wrote that his superiors were supporting him “big time” after he fired at Martinez, including Bovino, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and “El Jefe himself,” an apparent reference to the president.
Texts also show that another officer called him a “legend” and offered “beers on me.” Another told him “put that one in your book buddy.”
The Independent has requested comment from Homeland Security.
Body camera footage from the scene also appears to show the officer turning his steering wheel towards Martinez’s car after officers can be heard saying “it’s time to get aggressive” — footage that appears to undermine Homeland Security’s claim that Martinez and another man “rammed” the agents.
District Judge Georgia Alexakis allowed the release of evidence after federal prosecutors argued that publishing Exum’s text messages could “sully” his reputation.
The judge argued the Trump administration showed “zero concern about the sullying of Ms. Martinez’s reputation.”
Martinez pleaded not guilty to charges that she used her vehicle “to assault, impede, and interfere with the work of federal agents in Chicago.”
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago dropped the charges after lawyers for Martinez raised questions about evidence, but her legal team continues to press the Trump administration for evidence after labeling her a “domestic terrorist.”
Lawyers for Martinez are now suing the administration in a case that attorney Chris Parente says will allow the public to see the “real evidence as opposed to the false claims of our government.”
“We live in a strange time right now, where we cannot trust our government,” he said Wednesday.
In videos from the scene, officers can be heard saying they are “boxed in” before colliding with another vehicle. An officer climbs out of the vehicle, points his weapon and yells “don’t you f****** move.” Exum, who was behind the wheel, then exits the car, and five shots can be heard.
Footage of Exum firing at Martinez is not included.
In testimony to members of Congress last week, Martinez told lawmakers she was using her car horn to warn neighbors about the presence of federal immigration officers when she was side-swiped by Border Patrol officers who tried to cut her off.
She said she feared for her life and tried to flee, and that’s when agents opened fire.
“As I continued to drive past the Border Patrol agents, I could hear my back passenger window shatter, and I felt bullets continue to pierce my body,” she said. “As I attempted to drive to a safe location, I began to feel lightheaded. I looked down and saw blood gushing out of my arms and legs and realized I had been shot multiple times.”
Images from the scene released by prosecutors Tuesday show the passenger seat and dashboard of her Nissan Rogue covered in blood.
Previously released messages show the officer appearing to brag about the shooting to other officers.
“I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes,” he wrote. “Put that in your book boys.”
Hours after the shooting, Bovino offered to extend Exum’s service with Customs and Border Protection.
“I’d like to extend an offer for you to extend your retirement beyond age 57,” he wrote in an email. “In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!”
Bovino then instructed a colleague to work with Exum to “accomplish this most illustrative endeavor.”
Border Patrol’s now-former “commander at large” spearheaded the Trump administration’s surge of federal immigration officers into Democratic-led states and cities, where officials and protesters accused him of leading a violent assault against immigrants and citizens alike.
He was reportedly pulled out of Minnesota after agents under his command fatally shot two demonstrators. Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti last month just two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good.
After growing public outrage and bipartisan political pressure, Trump deployed White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, and Bovino was sent back to his post at CBP’s branch in southern California near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ahead of a Chicago operation marked by a wave of lawsuits and allegations of violent force, Bovino pushed back against internal efforts to focus Border Patrol operations on “targeted” arrests rather than large-scale sweeps, according to emails obtained by NBC News.
ICE’s acting director Todd Lyons told Bovino to focus on arresting people who are already on federal law enforcement’s radar for immigration violations and other laws, according to the messages.
But Bovino said he “declined” the directive and said he reports to Corey Lewandowski, a top aide to Secretary Noem.
“Mr. Lyons seemed intent that CBP conduct targeted operations for at least two weeks before transitioning to full scale immigration enforcement,” Bovino wrote in an email to Homeland Security officials in September. “I declined his suggestion. We ended the conversation shortly thereafter.”
Noem and Lewandowski have reportedly been sidelined from the Trump administration’s street-level mass deportation campaign after fatal shootings in Minnesota.
Homan reports directly to the president, effectively cutting Noem out of the chain of command.
