How Gregory Bovino became a face of Trump’s mass deportations and ended his career

Gregory Bovino, who has become the face of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration tactics in big cities, confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that he plans to retire from the Border Patrol in the coming weeks.

Bovino, 55, joined the Border Patrol in 1996 and gradually rose through the ranks. But he was not known outside the agency until last June, when he became commander of the administration’s crackdown in Los Angeles, which resulted in thousands of arrests, including near Home Depots and at car washes. Officers smashed car windows, kicked down a house door and patrolled legendary MacArthur Park. on horseback.

Bovino, who often appeared in tactical gear, played his role in Chicago, patrolling along the Chicago River, the tourist district of Michigan Avenue, and neighborhoods across the city and suburbs. He led a helicopter raid on a large building and used chemical agents to confront the protesters.

After short stops in Charlotte, North Carolina and New Orleans, Bovino was present almost daily as Minnesota’s Twin Cities transformed into a battleground between protesters and immigration authorities that led to the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Bovino left Minnesota shortly after Pretti’s assassination on January 24 and was replaced by White House border czar Tom Homan.

Bovino is retiring as chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro, Calif., sector, a position he held since 2020.

Bovino plays key role in Trump’s mass deportation campaign

“We’re not going to hit just one place. We’re going to hit as many as we can. Everywhere – everywhere – in the Los Angeles area, we’re going to turn and burn to the next target, and the next, and the next, and the next, and we’re not going to stop. We’re not going to stop until there’s no problem here.”

Bovino in an Aug. 25 interview with the AP describing his “turn and burn” approach to racking up immigration arrests.

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“What happens on the border, even 100 years ago, didn’t stay on the border, and it still doesn’t. That’s why we’re here in Los Angeles.”

Bovino, in an interview with AP, explaining the Border Patrol’s growing presence far from the border.

Bovino rose to prominence as commander of the Chicago operation

“We use the least amount of force necessary to make the arrest, we do it. If I had more CS gas, I would have deployed it.”

Bovino, in a Nov. 3 interview with the AP, about throwing a can of gasoline at a crowd in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. The Department of Homeland Security said Bovino was hit with a rock. Bystanders rejected the claim and said officers deployed gas without warning. A federal judge later ruled that Bovino lied about the encounter.

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“My role is not to tell you that you may or may not enforce laws validly passed by Congress. … My role is simply to ensure that, in enforcing those laws, officers act in a manner consistent with the Constitution.”

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino on Oct. 28 to provide daily information on how his officers enforce the law in Chicago.

Bovino is reassigned from Minnesota

“It looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

Bovino at a Jan. 24 news conference on the fatal shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti by federal authorities. His version of events was immediately called into question by eyewitness videos.

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“I don’t think it’s a step back, it’s a small change. Everybody in this room that has a business, you know you make small changes. You know, Bovino is very good, but he’s a pretty extravagant guy, and in some cases it’s good, maybe it wasn’t good here.”

President Donald Trump, regarding Bovino’s reassignment from Minnesota, in a January 27 interview with Fox News Channel.

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“She’s the best secretary I’ve ever worked for, period. The others weren’t even close. Noem is the ultimate patriot.”

Bovino commented on March 5 on Trump’s firing of Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security.