Gregory Kent Bovino (born March 27, 1970) is a United States Border Patrol officer who served as the commander-at-large of the Border Patrol from October 2025 to January 2026.
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 named as a commander-at-large of the Border Patrol.
In December 2025, Bovino began leading Operation Metro Surge, a major immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Following the killing of Alex Pretti in January 2026, Bovino's comments faced criticism from within the Trump administration, and he was removed from leading the operation. The Atlantic reported that month that Bovino had been removed as commander-at-large of the Border Patrol, which the Department of Homeland Security denied.
Early life and education
Gregory Kent Bovino[1] was born on March 27,[2] 1970, in San Bernardino County, California.[1] Bovino was born to an Italian American family; his great-grandparents emigrated from Calabria to Pennsylvania in 1909, becoming naturalized citizens in 1927.[3] Bovino's parents moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, two years after he was born.[1] His father, Michael, owned a bar. In 1981, Michael drunkenly crashed his truck into a woman's car, killing her. He pleaded guilty to death by motor vehicle and served four months in prison. Michael was forced to sell the bar, leading to the family's financial struggles, and Bovino's parents divorced three years later.[1][3]
Early Border Patrol work and sector chiefships (1996–2025)
After graduating from Appalachian State University in 1996, Bovino joined the Boone Police Department.[3] That year, Bovino, inspired by autobiographies of former agents[7] and having watched The Border (1982) as a child,[1] joined the United States Border Patrol as a member of Class 325 at the Border Patrol Academy.[7] He was assigned to the Border Patrol's sector in El Paso, Texas, and 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 to the patrol agent in charge of the station in Blythe, California.[8] 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.[9]
By August 2019, Bovino had become the chief of the Border Patrol's sector in New Orleans,[10] and by March 2021, he had become the chief of the sector in El Centro, California;[11] he was relieved of that position in August 2023.[9] Near the end of Joe Biden's presidency, Bovino led operations that resulted in dozens of arrests in Central Valley.[12] The tactics employed by Bovino in Kern County, referred to as Operation Return to Sender, were later ruled illegal by a federal judge.[13]
In September, Bovino was reassigned to command Operation Midway Blitz, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Chicago.[15] He assumed a high-profile role in the Los Angeles and Chicago campaigns, particularly on social media,[16] leading a man to allegedly solicit Bovino to be killed.[17] 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".[18] The next month, he clashed with protesters in Chicago.[19] 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.[20] The judge who imposed the order, Sara L. Ellis, admonished Bovino[21] and ordered him to report on the Border Patrol's use of force daily.[22] The order to report was paused by an appeals court.[23]
Commander-at-Large of the Border Patrol
In October, secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem named Bovino as the "commander-at-large" of the Border Patrol, a rank with no statutory basis, in an op-ed. Bovino 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.[24] In a September 2025 email exchange, Bovino stated that in matters of interior immigration enforcement he reported directly to Lewandowski, rather than to Todd Lyons of ICE, writing "Mr. Lyons said he was in charge, and I corrected him saying I report to Corey Lewandowski."[25]
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".[18] 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.[26] He appeared amid operations in Charlotte, North Carolina,[27]New Orleans, Louisiana,[28] and Minneapolis, Minnesota, the site of the killing of Renée Good, an American citizen whose death led to protests.[29]The New York Times later reported that Bovino had allegedly made derogatory remarks towards Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, over his Orthodox Jewish faith.[30]
Bovino walks alongside BORTAC officers in Minneapolis in January 2026
Following the killing of Alex Pretti amid protests in Minneapolis in January 2026, Bovino stated that Pretti intended to inflict "maximum damage and massacre law enforcement".[31] He defended the Border Patrol officer who killed Pretti, claiming that Pretti "approached" agents with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and that he "violently resisted" when officers attempted to disarm him. Bystander video contradicted Bovino's statements; in immediate footage that was released, Pretti holds a phone in his hand after an officer shoved a woman and is detained.[32] On January 26, two days after Pretti's death, the Trump administration privately intended to move Bovino out of Minneapolis.[33] Hours later, The Atlantic reported that Bovino had been dismissed as commander-at-large and would return to El Centro, California;[34] ABC News reported that he would be resuming his duties as sector chief.[35] The Department of Homeland Security denied reports that Bovino had been ousted.[36] Bovino's access to his social media accounts was revoked by high-ranking officials at the Customs and Border Protection; he regained access after returning to El Centro, according to The New York Times.[37]
Public image
Bovino's aggressive tactics have drawn controversy.[38][33]
In January 2026, photographs of Bovino wearing a green greatcoat elicited comments that the coat elicited a "Nazi aesthetic" from German media[1] and from social media users.[39] A video from the Department of Homeland Security that featured Bovino's coat further intensified comparisons in late 2025; California governor Gavin Newsom rebuked claims that allegations of fascism and authoritarianism within the Trump administration were hyperbolic using the video.[40] The menswear writer Derek Guy argued that – despite similarities with the German M40 overcoat worn by Kriegsmarine officers – Bovino's overcoat was instead hearkening to the militarization of immigration enforcement, referencing Operation Wetback.[41]
↑Barr, Luke (January 26, 2026). "Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino returning to position in El Centro: Sources". ABC News. Archived from the original on January 27, 2026. Retrieved January 27, 2026. Customs and Border Protection commander-at-large Greg Bovino is returning to El Centro, California, to resume his duties as chief of that sector, multiple sources told ABC News." "The position of commander-at-large was a temporary position.
↑"Der ICE-Kommandant im Nazi-Look"[ICE commander sports Nazi-style look]. Der Spiegel (in German). January 22, 2026. Archived from the original on January 23, 2026. Retrieved January 25, 2026. Ein Mann im knielangen Wintermantel, zwei Knopfreihen und Abzeichen seiner Einheit. Bei TikTok und Instagram sehen viele User Parallelen zum Erscheinungsbild eines Nazi-Offiziers.[A man in a knee-length winter coat, two rows of buttons and insignia of his unit. On TikTok and Instagram, many users see parallels to the appearance of a Nazi officer.]
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