Gregory Bovino

Quick facts

Key positions

Biography

Gregory Bovino has spent nearly three decades in the U.S. Border Patrol, entering on duty November 17, 1996, with Class 325 at the Border Patrol Academy and rising through tactical and headquarters posts to become Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Sector in California in April 2020. He holds a forestry degree from Western Carolina University, a public-administration master’s from Appalachian State, and a master’s in national security strategy from the National War College. Under his command, the El Centro Sector compiled the most aggressive use-of-force record in the entire Border Patrol: a joint investigation by the Project On Government Oversight and American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop (October 2025) found El Centro logged 300 use-of-force incidents against 83 reported assaults on agents in FY2022-2025 — a 3.6-to-1 ratio versus the Border Patrol’s roughly 2-to-1 average — and the highest force rate per apprehension of any sector in the nation.

In July 2023 Bovino was briefly relieved of command and reassigned to a desk job at CBP headquarters within hours of a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee about Biden-era border conditions. House Republicans led by Representatives James Comer and Mark Green characterized the move as retaliation against a witness; he was reinstated to El Centro the following month. The episode cemented his standing with House Republicans and preceded his rapid elevation after Trump’s 2025 inauguration.

Beginning in mid-2025, Bovino led a series of high-profile urban immigration operations. A June 7, 2025 raid at a Home Depot in Paramount, California drew a community blockade and helped trigger Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles. On July 7, 2025 he led a military-style operation through MacArthur Park while a children’s summer camp was in session; confronted at the scene by Mayor Karen Bass, he responded, “I don’t work for Karen Bass.” In September 2025 he was named “Commander-at-Large” for Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago — an extra-hierarchical role reporting directly to Secretary Noem and giving a Border Patrol commander operational control over ICE assets across multiple cities.

His conduct in Chicago drew direct judicial findings. On October 23, 2025, Bovino was filmed throwing a tear-gas canister into a crowd in the Little Village neighborhood, two weeks after U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a restraining order limiting such force. In a 39-page preliminary injunction dated November 6, 2025, Judge Ellis found that Bovino “admitted that he lied” about being struck by a rock before deploying the gas, called the government’s evidence “simply not credible,” and wrote that the use of force “shocks the conscience.” DHS called the ruling the act of “an activist judge” but did not dispute the finding. Bovino was not removed; he was redeployed to Charlotte, New Orleans, and then Minneapolis, where on January 7, 2026 a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, Renee Nicole Good, was shot and killed by a federal agent — who was not wearing a body camera — during Operation Metro Surge under his command. On December 15, 2025, days before the Minneapolis deployment, Bovino posted a video to official Border Patrol channels showing an open Bible turned to Isaiah 6:8 (“Here am I, send me”) alongside agents in tactical gear; former Border Patrol whistleblower Jenn Budd noted the post omitted the passage’s later judgment verse (Isaiah 6:11, “until the cities lie ruined”).

Sources

• He misled the public about his last big immigration sweep. Now he’s leading the Border Patrol in LA — CalMatters (career and background).
• Greg Bovino’s Border Patrol Agents Use Disproportionate Force, Data Shows — Project On Government Oversight / American University Investigative Reporting Workshop, October 2025 (El Centro use-of-force record).
• House Committee on Homeland Security press releases on Bovino’s reinstatement, August 2023 (2023 testimony and reassignment).
• Federal Judge Orders Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, Who Fired Tear Gas at Little Village Crowd, Into Court — WTTW Chicago (Little Village incident; Judge Ellis proceedings).
• Wikipedia entry on Gregory Bovino and LinkedIn professional profile (education and biographical details).