Newly released evidence has shown that Gregory Bovino, a border patrol chief who was the face of the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation efforts until last month, praised a federal agent who shot a Chicago woman during an immigration crackdown last year.<\/p>\n
Marimar Martinez, a US citizen, was shot five times by a border patrol agent in October while in her vehicle. She was charged with a felony after officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused her of trying to ram agents with her vehicle. But the case was abruptly dismissed<\/a> after video evidence emerged showing that an agent had steered his vehicle into Martinez\u2019s car.<\/p>\n Lawyers for Martinez have pushed to make evidence in the dismissed criminal case public, saying they were especially motivated to do so after a federal agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis under similar circumstances.<\/p>\n The new evidence \u2013 which includes emails, text messages and videos \u2013 was released this week after a US district judge, Georgia Alexakis, lifted a protective order. Federal prosecutors had argued the documents could \u201cfurther sully\u201d reputation of the agent who shot Martinez.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know why the United States government has expressed zero concern for the sullying of Ms Martinez\u2019s reputation,\u201d Alexakis countered.<\/p>\n The border patrol agent who shot Martinez, Charles Exum, was not wearing his body camera during the incident, according to Martinez\u2019s lawyer, but body camera video recorded by another agent<\/a> and released on Tuesday showed the moments that led up to the shooting from inside Exum\u2019s vehicle. After Exum gets out of the car, the sound of five shots being fired can be heard on the video.<\/p>\n Text messages, meanwhile, show Bovino sending encouragement to Exum after the shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cIn light of your excellent service in Chicago<\/a>, you have much yet left to do!!\u201d Bovino wrote to Exum on 4 October, hours after Martinez was shot, in an email urging him to put off his retirement.<\/p>\n Another text exchange highlighted by lawyers for Martinez showed that when a fellow agent asked Exum if his superiors were being \u201csupportive\u201d after the shooting, Exum replied: \u201cBig time. Everyone has been including Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Sec Noem and El Jefe himself \u2026 according to Bovino.\u201d<\/p>\n On the day Martinez was shot, she had followed agents\u2019 vehicle and honked her horn to warn others of the presence of immigration agents. Body camera footage showed agents with weapons drawn preparing to rush out of their vehicle.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to get aggressive and get the (expletive) out,\u201d one agent could be heard saying.<\/p>\n Bovino\u2019s belligerent persona, in frequent Fox News appearances, on social media and while leading operations in front of cameras deployed to produce propaganda for the Trump administration<\/a>, had earned him a starring role in the made-for-TV crackdown until last month, when he was caught lying about Alex Pretti, the VA nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis despite posing them no threat.<\/p>\n The shooting of Martinez came during the height of the Chicago-area crackdown last year, during which a federal judge concluded that Bovino had lied to her<\/a> about having been struck by a rock during a confrontation with protesters in the city.<\/p>\n The government unsuccessfully fought the release of the documents on the shooting, including an email from Bovino, who led enforcement operations nationwide until video evidence showed<\/a> he had lied when he said Pretti \u201capproached law enforcement with a weapon\u201d, \u201cviolently resisted\u201d and wanted to \u201cmassacre law enforcement\u201d.<\/p>\n In one agent group text, others congratulated Exum as Bovino had, calling him a \u201clegend\u201d and offering to buy him beers. In another text exchange made public when Martinez testified in Congress last week, another agent sent Exum a Guardian report<\/a> on the shooting in which her lawyer said she had \u201cseven holes in her body from five shots\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cRead it,\u201d Exum replied. \u201c5 shots, 7 holes.\u201d<\/p>\n Exum then appeared to brag to colleagues about his shooting skills. \u201cI fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Robert Garcia, a Democratic representative of California, speaks during a forum on use of force by Department of Homeland Security agents, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Martinez\u2019s lawyers are pursuing a complaint under a law that permits individuals to sue federal agencies. They outlined instances of DHS lying about Martinez after the shooting, including labeling her a \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d and accusing her of having a history of \u201cdoxxing federal agents\u201d. The Montessori school assistant has no criminal record and prosecutors haven\u2019t brought evidence to support either claim.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a time where we just cannot trust the words of our federal officials,\u201d Christopher Parente, an attorney, said at a news conference where his office released evidence.<\/p>\n That included an agent\u2019s hand-drawn diagram of the scene to allege how Martinez \u201cboxed in\u201d federal agents. It included three vehicles Parente said \u201cdon\u2019t exist\u201d.<\/p>\n