Gregory Bovino (born 1969or1970) is an American law enforcement officer who has served as a senior official in the United States Border Patrol since 2019.
In the second presidency of Donald Trump, Bovino became involved in the administration's immigration policy. In June 2025, he was named the tactical commander of a mass raid operation in Los Angeles that led to protests across the city. After the operation concluded, he shifted to Chicago to serve as the commander of Operation Midway Blitz. In the Los Angeles and Chicago operations, Bovino assumed a public-facing role. By October, he was called a "commander-at-large" of the Border Patrol.
In 1996, Bovino, inspired by autobiographies by former agents, joined the United States Border Patrol as a member of Class 325 at the Border Patrol Academy.[4] He was assigned to the Border Patrol's sector in El Paso, Texas, and had worked as the acting field operations supervisor in the tactical unit for the city. In 2004, Bovino began working at the sector in Yuma, Arizona. By December 2008, Bovino had become an assistant chief at the Yuma sector's headquarters. That month, he was promoted as the patrol agent in charge of the station in Blythe, California.[5] In 2010, Bovino led an operation, intended to last three days, to raid airport and bus stations in Las Vegas; the plan was halted after the first hour amid criticism from Nevada senator Harry Reid.[6]
Sector chiefships and ICE operations (2019–present)
By August 2019, Bovino had become the chief of the Border Patrol's sector in New Orleans,[7] and by March 2021, he had become the chief of the sector in El Centro, California;[8] he was relieved of that position in August 2023.[6] Near the end of Joe Biden's presidency, Bovino arrested dozens of people in Central Valley.[9] In Donald Trump's second presidency, Bovino led the implementation of the administration's immigration policy in California. In June, he was named the tactical commander of a mass raid operation in Los Angeles that led to protests across the city.[4] In July, acting U.S. attorney Michele Beckwith told Bovino to follow a court order; she was dismissed.[10] Bovino told the Associated Press in September that, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 57, he would return to North Carolina to harvest apples.[6]
In September, Bovino was reassigned to command Operation Midway Blitz, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Chicago.[11] He assumed a high-profile role in the Los Angeles and Chicago campaigns, particularly on social media,[12] leading a man to allegedly solicit Bovino to be killed.[13] In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bovino compared a border patrol officer to a police officer, saying the latter "deter[s] crime by his presence".[14] The next month, he clashed with protesters in Chicago.[15] In one instance, he was recorded throwing a tear gas canister at a mass of protesters; plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleged that Bovino had violated a court order preventing federal immigration agents from using tear gas.[16] The judge who imposed the order, Sara L. Ellis, admonished Bovino[17] and ordered him to report on the Border Patrol's use of force daily.[18] The order to report was paused by an appeals court.[19]
By October, Bovino had been called a "Commander at Large" of the Border Patrol, a rank with no statutory basis, by Secretary of Homeland SecurityKristi Noem in an op-ed. He operated outside the Border Patrol's command structure, reporting directly to Noem. He was involved in a reorganization effort at ICE along with Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager who has advised Noem.[20] The next month, Ellis extended her temporary restraining order against ICE's use of tear gas and pepper balls, saying Bovino had lied under oath about threats posed by protesters and reporters.[21]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
