Gregory Bovino’s new bourbon brand touts itself as “bottled in tribute to the battle-hardened agents and law enforcement officers who held the line”

NEED TO KNOW

• Trump’s former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino is now selling “Commander’s Choice” bourbon whiskey
• The Commander’s Choice website says the $99 bottles are “in tribute to the battle-hardened agents and law enforcement officers who held the line”
• Bovino retired from Border Patrol in March after controversial stints leading anti-immigration operations in Minneapolis and Los Angeles

President Donald Trump’s former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino is now selling his own brand of bourbon whiskey.

Bovino’s “Commander’s Choice” whiskey leans heavily into his career in anti-immigration efforts, with the website featuring the slogan “Deport Them All.” The 90-proof liquor is “bottled in tribute to the battle-hardened agents and law enforcement officers who held the line.”

“No standing by. No shortcuts. Just results,” the website reads, before a longer dedication exclusively highlights the final controversial year of Bovino’s Border Patrol leadership.

“For The Tribe: A tribute to the battle-hardened Border Patrol Agents, Office of Field Operations, and Air and Marine Agents of CBP, and the elite federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who came together in 2025–2026 to conduct the nation’s largest interior immigration campaign in history,” it reads.

“For a year, you carried out your duty, tackling the toughest assignments in our nation’s toughest cities in the face of relentless pressure,” the dedication continues. “Together we went into the most non-permissive environments possible, carrying out legal, ethical and moral law enforcement duties every step of the way. As we say in the Border Patrol — you held the line.”

“This bottle salutes your exceptionalism,” the tribute concludes. “You were made for that impossible assignment, the one that means going all in with no questions asked. You did your part.”

The dedication is signed by Bovino, who titles himself the “Commander at Large,” despite retiring from Border Patrol in March.

Bovino told New York magazine that he came up with the idea for his whiskey while leading Trump’s immigration crackdown last year. He and the officers would gather for a drink at night, he said, where “whiskey always seemed to be the drink of choice.”

“Somebody said, ‘We got to come up with a Border Patrol whiskey,’ ” he told the outlet.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for additional comment.

Bovino was the face of ICE operations in Minneapolis in the final weeks of 2025 and into 2026, during the shooting deaths of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti and 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good by federal agents. Combative protests followed both shootings.

In both cases, Bovino aggressively defended the actions of his officers, joining then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in accusing Pretti — a lawful gun owner — of attempting to attack Border Patrol agents.

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“This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” Bovino said at the time, despite multiple video angles showing that Pretti was holding a cell phone, not a gun, and that Border Patrol agents disarmed him before shooting him at point-blank range.

Bovino also raised eyebrows during his time in Minneapolis for marching the streets alongside ICE officers, unmasked and occasionally wearing an army-green greatcoat that drew comparisons to the uniforms of Nazi officers during World War II.

Bovino didn’t appreciate the comparison, warning in a Jan. 26 press conference: “Calling law enforcement names like Gestapo, or using the term ‘kidnapping,’ that is a choice that is made. There are actions and consequences that come from those choices.”

The following day, it was announced that he would be returning to his post in El Centro, Calif., where he was Commander Op At Large of that sector. Two months later, Bovino announced his retirement from Border Patrol.

Following his retirement, Bovino accused Trump officials, specifically border czar Tom Homan and new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott, of “wanting me dead.”

In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in August, Bovino claimed the Trump administration stripped him of his security detail in an intentional move to leave him exposed to violence.

“Do I think they want me dead at this point? Yes,” Bovino said at the time. “There’s some crazies out there … you bet. Do I think they want me killed? Absolutely.”

In a statement to PEOPLE at the time, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called the allegation “absurd.” The DHS also provided PEOPLE with a statement, saying that “federal security details are provided to designated officials while they are serving in government.”

“Once an individual leaves federal service, that protection ends,” the spokesperson said. “This is not a matter of policy or discretion; it is the law. As a private citizen, the individual is responsible for arranging and paying for their own security, just like other former federal officials.”

“DHS does not comment on matters regarding personnel who are no longer with the agency,” the spokesperson added.

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