The Border Patrol chief has been ousted from his role as “commander at large,” and will return to El Centro.By Nick Miroff
Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official and two people with knowledge of the change.
Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command.
Earlier today, President Trump appeared to signal in a series of social-media posts a tactical shift in the administration’s mass-deportation campaign. Trump wrote that he spoke with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz—whom the White House has blamed for inciting violence—and the two men are now on “a similar wavelength.” Tom Homan, the former ICE chief whom Trump has designated “border czar,” will head to Minnesota to assume command of the federal mobilization there, Trump said.
Border Patrol head Bovino and some agents leaving Minnesota, Walz, Frey say
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Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino and some federal agents will begin leaving Minnesota on Tuesday, according to local leaders and multiple media reports.
Why it matters: It’s the clearest of several signs yet that President Trump is open to de-escalating the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, days after federal officials shot and killed a second state resident.
Driving the news: Reports of the pullback came hours after Trump and Gov. Tim Walz had a “productive” phone call on the situation in Minnesota.
- Walz said the president told him about plans to send former ICE director Tom Homan to the state and pledged to “do things differently.”
- Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement that he also spoke to Trump and that “some federal agents will begin leaving the area tomorrow.”
What they’re saying: “There’s a definite change of tone,” Walz said. “There’s a definitely a more collaborative tone.”
Zoom in: In a radio interview, Walz said the president agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents on the ground and speak to Homeland Security about cooperating with an independent state investigation into the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
- Trump said on Truth Social that he and Walz “seemed to be on a similar wavelength” and that the governor “‘understood” the administration’s desire to get access to undocumented “criminals” already in custody in Minnesota.
The intrigue: Walz told MPR News his impression was that the president didn’t realize before their call that Minnesota’s Department of Corrections already complies with ICE’s request to notify them before releasing undocumented inmates from state prisons.
- “I think once [Trump] heard that from me, he’s like, ‘Well, that’s helpful,'” Walz said.
Zoom out: Earlier Monday, Trump also announced that he sent Homan to Minneapolis, saying Homan will “report directly to me.”
- Trump said Walz was “happy” with the news, and Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) welcomed Homan’s arrival as an “opportunity for a reset.”
When asked if the president agreed with top deputies labeling Pretti a domestic terrorist and insisting without evidence that he was out to harm agents, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “I have not heard the president characterize Mr. Pretti in that way.”
- On whether top officials jumped too quickly to conclusions, she said the president “wants to let the investigation continue and let the facts lead in this case.”
Border Patrol Boss Greg Bovino Left Chicago Thursday, Reports Say
Federal officials previously said Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino wasn’t leaving the city. CBS reported he now appears to be in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Bovino told Fox News he may return to Chicago.
This is part of our series of daily recaps of ICE activity in the Chicago region. Have a tip we should check out? Email newsroom@blockclubchi.org.
CHICAGO — Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino is no longer in Chicago, according to reports.
Bovino, a controversial leader of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Chicago, left the city Thursday for Charlotte, North Carolina, CBS News reported Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Appearing on Fox News midday Thursday, Bovino said he was in West Virginia, training with hundreds of Border Patrol agents in preparation for a possible return to Chicago and other cities.
“And you’re going to see us redeploy — it could be New York, it could be Chicago, it could be in Charlotte — but one thing that’s gonna happen is, Gov. Pritzker is gonna see a lot more immigration enforcement. … You can guarantee it,” Bovino said.
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Questions Block Club sent Friday to Department of Homeland Security officials about the decision to relocate Bovino — including who would replace him, if social media influencers embedded with his team would be traveling with him and whether lawsuits filed in federal court over federal immigration agents’ use of force impacted the decision — went unanswered.
“Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations,” Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs, said in an email.
McLaughlin denied in a social media post Tuesday that Bovino was leaving Chicago in response to reports earlier this week about the Border Patrol chief’s possible exit.
But officials from Mecklenburg County in North Carolina confirmed they’ve been informed that Border Patrol personnel are arriving in the Charlotte area, according to a news release.
Citing a Homeland Security official, the Sun-Times previously reported 1,000 federal agents could return to Chicago in March. About 200 Border Patrol agents had been conducting operations in the Chicago area recently, a top federal immigration enforcement official previously said.
Bovino announced the launch of Operation At Large in September, a week after the start of Operation Midway Blitz, a separate immigration enforcement effort led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Both are presumably focused on arresting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal histories.
But in the months since, federal agents have shot at least two people, killing one; repeatedly tear-gassed protesters and first responders; shot rubber bullets at protesters; detained U.S. citizens, including children; handcuffed a Chicago alderperson in a hospital; smoke bombed and tear-gassed a Chicago street; fired a chemical weapon at a TV reporter and detained a journalist, among other incidents.
Bovino has been a visible figure since arriving in Chicago, posing for photo ops aboard a boat on the Chicago River and Downtown — most recently at the Bean in Millennium Park early Monday.
Bovino has also been an active participant in immigration raids across the city, seen on video tear-gassing crowds of residents in Little Village, among other incidents, and he is at the center of a federal lawsuit challenging agents’ use of force throughout the immigration crackdown.
Last week, federal Judge Sara L. Ellis blasted Bovino, saying he admitted in a deposition that he lied when claiming he was hit by a rock before tear-gassing people in Little Village.
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At the same hearing, Ellis extended restrictions she put on federal immigration agents’ use of force and crowd control tactics. This week, the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal to the block the order, calling it “unworkable.”
And U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings plans to release on bond hundreds of people who have been detained by federal immigration agents in Chicago since June, which Bovino criticized during his appearance on Fox News Thursday.
“Whether they were criminals or individuals that were taking jobs from Americans — you name it, that’s what they were doing. And I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen,” Bovino said. “We’re gonna go even harder on the streets. If he releases those 650, we’re gonna apprehend 1,650 on the streets of Chicago.”
21 People Arrested Outside Broadview ICE Facility
A total of 21 people were arrested outside the ICE processing facility in suburban Broadview Friday “in connection with protests in Broadview around the facility being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” according to a release from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
The arrests happened around 10 a.m. Friday, according to the release.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson criticized “out-of-town protesters” for causing injury to two of her suburb’s police officers as well as officers for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Police, in a Friday statement.
“I have repeatedly pleaded to protesters to raise their voices, not their fists. They have chosen their fists,” Thompson said in her statement accusing demonstrators of violence.
The two Broadview officers and the Cook County police officers were taken to Loyola Hospital for treatment, Thompson said in the statement.
In early October, local and state police set up designated protest zones with barricades to keep protesters away from the ICE facility. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office also began sending out news releases about people arrested near the facility.
The 9 a.m. demonstration at the ICE facility started peacefully with people chanting and singing, the Sun-Times reported. Federal agents were not on the scene, and no tear gas, pepper balls or chemical agents were deployed, according to the Sun-Times.
Around 10 a.m. a group of protesters exited the designated protest zones and tried to walk toward the ICE facility, prompting state police to push protesters back, according to WGN.
Over the past several months, similar scenes have played out frequently in Broadview, which has become a flashpoint in Chicago’s resistance to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown.
Other Headlines
Federal Judge Sets March Trial Over Use Of Force In Immigration Crackdown: A trial over First Amendment rights, brought by Block Club and other media groups, should happen before “another ramp-up of the operation in the spring,” U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said.
FROM SUN-TIMES & WBEZ: Tear Gas, Car Crashes, Rubber Bullets: Risky Tactics Have Driven Trump’s Chicago Deportation ‘Blitz’: Law enforcement experts say federal agents have displayed a lack of training and restraint. “They’re out of control,” ex-police Supt. Garry McCarthy says.
FROM SUN-TIMES: U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino And Many Of His Agents Favor Trump, GOP In Their Campaign Giving: As Bovino has led the immigration enforcement operation in the Chicago region since September, he’s been portrayed as a political tool of the White House. He’s previously insisted he’s “apolitical” in his work, but he and his household have donated campaign money to Trump and his Republican allies.
FROM TRIBUNE: West Chicago Brothers Are On The Front Lines Against ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ — And They’re Only Teenagers: The wave of youth activists who have been galvanized into action by “Operation Midway Blitz” follow a long tradition paved around the world by young activists.
FROM TRIBUNE: Illinois Democratic Senate Hopefuls Target President Donald Trump’s Immigration Policies At Labor Forum: At Illinois AFL-CIO and Chicago Federation of Labor forum, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly each blamed Trump for voter concerns over affordability.
FROM TRIBUNE: Attorneys Visit ‘Black Box’ ICE Processing Center In Broadview: The rare site visit was ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally in the wake of a class-action lawsuit alleging dirty, unsafe conditions.
FROM TRIBUNE: Immigration Agents Make Arrest Outside Leighton Courthouse, Leaving Behind Broken Fence: It was not clear whether the agents had secured a warrant for the man’s arrest.
FROM WGN: Costs Mount As National Guard Soldiers Sit On Standby: SkyCam9 shows you what they’re doing, as costs of their legally questionable deployment pile-up.
FROM WBEZ: City Leaders Push Back After DHS Takes Credit For Chicago’s Crime Drop: The Department of Homeland Security claims their agents’ actions led to a “historic drop” in crime, but a WBEZ analysis contradicts that claim.
Know Your Rights
- Know Your Rights As An Immigrant
- What To Do If A Loved One Is Detained
- Know Your Rights As A Protester
- Recording, Reporting Immigration Agents
- What To Do If You’re Unhoused
- Nonprofits That Serve Immigrants
Follow For Updates
You can follow these organizations for updates about immigration enforcement activity.
- Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
- Southwest Rapid Response
- Northwest Side Rapid Response
- Increase the Peace
- Pilsen Puño
- Organized Communities Against Deportations
- Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
- National Immigrant Justice Center
- Resurrection Project
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