Bovino Slams Minneapolis Immigration Retreat as Surrender

Greg Bovino calls the federal pullout from Minneapolis a surrender by the Trump administration.

Bovino served as the public face of the deportation drive in Minneapolis. He recently gave an interview to the BBC to discuss the operation. He described the later withdrawal of agents as a surrender. He defended the tactics used during the enforcement surge. He stated that the administration threw the towel in. He noted that deportations are now at a virtual standstill.

The timeline of events began with a high-profile immigration operation in Minneapolis. US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed in January. Both shootings were captured on video. The footage sparked a bipartisan backlash and widespread protests. President Donald Trump said he was going to de-escalate a little bit. Hundreds of immigration agents were pulled out of the city. About 700 agents left the state. Tom Homan, the White House border tsar, took over the operation. Bovino was removed from his role shortly after the shootings.

Legal battles are now testing the administration's actions. Good's family filed two civil lawsuits earlier this month. They allege wrongful death and a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights. One lawsuit names senior officials, including Bovino and Jonathan Ross. Ross is the agent who shot Good. The complaint argues the operation created an unprecedented environment for state-sponsored violence. A White House spokeswoman previously called the lawsuits baseless. Bovino said he was not responding to the lawsuit. He praised the officers sent to Minneapolis. He noted that people do lawsuits all the time.

The family's lawyers responded to Bovino's comments. They said he was spewing propaganda. They stated he could not be judge, jury and executioner. The legal team looks forward to depositions of Bovino and all defendants. Bovino was speaking in Detroit while campaigning for tougher enforcement. He regretted not going harder in Minnesota. He said he wanted to arrest more illegal aliens. He described his agents as the real victims. He called it the most violence any law enforcement mission had faced in US history.

Bovino addressed questions about the video evidence. He disagreed that the footage undermined his claim that Good and Pretti meant to harm agents. He said violence was perpetrated against agents of the US government. He emphasized that this is a society of laws. He said people need to follow the law. Trump initially said Good violently ran over the ICE officer. Weeks later, Trump called her death a tragedy. He said agents were sometimes going to make a mistake.

Bovino has since retired from the border patrol. He said he still has not gotten the final word on why he was removed. Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary during the operation, was fired by Trump in March. Bovino has called for total spectrum immigration enforcement backed by the military. He claimed without evidence that 100 million people are in the US illegally. A White House spokesperson said Trump delivered the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history. More than 3 million illegal aliens left the country due to his policies. Bovino also floated exploring a presidential run in 2028. He recently addressed a far-right rally in Michigan. Activists there called for the deportation of Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed is a US-born citizen and Democratic Senate candidate.