Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino – dubbed ‘little Napoleon’ – has been ordered to leave Minneapolis in a major shakeup initiated by Tom Homan.
Donald Trump sidelined Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, dispatching Border Czar Homan, an ICE veteran, to take charge of the deteriorating crisis in Minnesota after a protester was shot dead on Saturday.
Homan is expected to hold a press conference later today where Bovino’s departure, along with that of hundreds of his agents, will be announced.
The decision is aimed at de-escalating the violence between federal agents and rioters which exploded on Saturday after the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse.
Bovino, the controversial face of Trump’s crackdown and a close ally of Noem, sparked fury in the White House when he claimed Pretti intended to ‘massacre’ federal agents.
Trump spent hours on Sunday and Monday watching cable news coverage and was unsettled by how the administration was being portrayed, one official told CNN.
Noem branded the ICU nurse a ‘domestic terrorist’ and claimed he brandished a firearm, sparking further frustration among administration officials.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt distanced Trump from Noem’s language on Monday, arguing that it was not a position that the President had taken.
Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino observes a protest in Minneapolis on January 15
Federal agents point weapons at protesters near the site of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday
Border Czar Tom Homan visits ‘Varney & Co.’ at Fox Business Network on January 13
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Bovino is a loyalist to Noem and her rumored lover Corey Lewandowski, and both have quietly pushed him as a potential replacement for current Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott, a longtime ally of Homan.
Noem has sought to sideline Scott by having Bovino report directly to her, an unprecedented move within the agency.
Bovino’s removal from Minneapolis underscores Noem’s fading standing with the White House as Trump dispatches Homan and his closest allies to seize control of the operation on the ground.
A Border Patrol veteran of 30 years, Bovino was selected last year from his role as chief patrol agent of the agency’s El Centro sector in Southern California to lead highly publicized immigration crackdowns across the country.
Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
He often stood out as the only agent not wearing a face covering when Border Patrol descended on Home Depots and gas stations.
Bovino has gone viral on social media as he is frequently spotted on the frontlines sporting a severe buzzcut and trench coat, which German media has likened to a ‘Nazi aesthetic’.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on X: ‘Greg Bovino dressed up as if he literally went on eBay and purchased SS garb. Greg Bovino, secret police, private army, masked men, people disappearing quite literally, no due process.’
A protester is pepper sprayed at close range while being detained near the site of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference at the headquarters for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to discuss a major winter storm affecting much of the country as well as the shooting death of a Minneapolis man by federal agents in Minnesota, in Washington, DC, on January 2
Bovino hit back, claiming he had the coat for more than 25 years and it was official Border Patrol merchandise.
Jenn Budd, an author and expert on Border Patrol, described Bovino as ‘the Liberace’ of the agency.
‘He was just a little Napoleon who wants you to think that he is the most moral and capable guy in the world, and everything around you is dangerous but he’s the one who’s going to save you,’ Budd told The Times. ‘It’s all a show for him.’
He once invited journalists to watch him swim across a canal in Southern California’s Imperial Valley in a bid to deter migrants considering the crossing.
After Trump was re-elected Bovino used similar public relations expertise to catch the president’s eye.
He sent dozens of agents to arrest migrants at gas stations along the highway ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
Asked why Bovino was chosen to lead the force, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told reporters bluntly: ‘Because he’s a badass.’
But while Bovino’s strongman image earned him Trump’s respect, his self-proclaimed ‘turn and burn’ enforcement strategies have sparked concern.
A federal judge accused Bovino in November of being ‘evasive’ and at times ‘outright lying’ in sworn testimony about an immigration crackdown in Chicago, finding his account ‘simply not credible.’
Judge Sara Ellis wrote that Bovino even admitted he lied about being hit with a rock before ordering tear gas used, and noted that video evidence flatly contradicted his claim that he never tackled a protester.
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