Rutgers Republicans Invite Controversial Ex-Border Patrol Head Greg Bovino To Speak On Campus

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The Rutgers Republican club, a student organization, invited former U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino to speak Monday on campus, and it's drawn outrage from some.

Bovino is scheduled to speak before students Nov. 16 at the Douglass Student Center.

More than 1,600 people signed this petition asking Rutgers to cancel his speech. The petition was launched by Climate Revolution Action Network, known as CRAN for short.

Bovino is a former U.S. Border Patrol officer who was promoted to be commander-at-large of U.S. Border Patrol from October 2025 to January 2026, the period of President Trump's and ICE's most aggressive immigration crackdown. While Bovino led a Border Patrol surge in Minneapolis during that time, two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal agents in January 2026 in Minneapolis.

Both were killed while protesting ICE removal operations.

The Trump administration removed Bovino from the post after the fatal shootings, and he retired from ICE in March. He is said to be exploring a run for president in 2028. Last month, he reportedly launched a whiskey brand with the tagline "Deport them all."

"I am writing to urge Rutgers University to cancel the upcoming event," the petition starts off. "Bovino's presence on campus raises serious concerns about the safety and well-being of the Rutgers community. During his leadership ... federal immigration enforcement operations resulted in the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good and the detention of thousands of individuals. Federal courts have also raised serious concerns about immigration authorities' repeated failure to comply with judicial orders."

"Inviting an individual associated with these operations to campus risks creating an intimidating and hostile environment for Rutgers students," the petition continued. "This is especially concerning for the university's large immigrant and international student population as well as undocumented students and their families."

“I can see why he’s very inflammatory,” Andrew Joseph, the leader of Rutgers Republicans, told NJ.com. “I’m willing to take the risk on that. We are the Rutgers Republicans. We believe in the open market of ideas.”

The petition asks Neela Patel, Karima Woodyard and Anthony Otero, all administrators in student affairs at Rutgers-New Brunswick, to cancel his talk.

As of Thursday afternoon, Rutgers has made no plans to cancel his talk. Bovino is scheduled to speak from 6-8 p.m. Monday at Trayes Hall. He will give a talk, and then answer questions from the audience.