DHS Secretary Kristi Noem names Greg Bovino as commander-at-large of the Border Patrol in an op-ed announcement, creating a rank with no statutory basis that allows Bovino to operate outside the Border Patrol's normal chain of command and report directly to Noem. Bovino, who had served as Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Sector since April 2020, brings a documented record of overseeing units with disproportionate use of force — a 3.6:1 ratio of force incidents to assaults faced, compared to 2:1 for Border Patrol overall, according to a Project on Government Oversight investigation.
The commander-at-large designation effectively creates a personal enforcement arm for Noem, bypassing career leadership and institutional oversight structures within CBP. Bovino's appointment exemplifies the personnel rewiring pattern documented across the Trump administration's second term: placing loyalists with aggressive enforcement records in positions that circumvent normal accountability chains. His elevation from a sector chief to a national role with no statutory authority mirrors the broader pattern of creating ad hoc power structures that operate outside legal frameworks.
In December 2025, Bovino begins leading Operation Metro Surge, the massive immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis that culminates in the killing of Renee Nicole Good on January 7, 2026. His units' documented pattern of excessive force at the border is now deployed in American cities against American civilians. Following the killing of a second person, Alex Pretti, during enforcement operations, Bovino's public comments draw criticism from within the Trump administration, and he is removed from the Minneapolis operation in late January 2026, returning to his previous position as El Centro Sector chief — a demotion that acknowledges operational failures while avoiding any accountability for the deaths that occurred under his command.