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Bovino’s Minneapolis exit
Gregory Bovino, described as the Border Patrol commander who supervised Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, was displaced and left the state on Tuesday, according to Izquierda diario.es.
Izquierda diario.es linked the move to a phone call between Donald Trump and Minnesota governor Tim Walz on Monday, and said Trump told Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey that "la situación actual no puede continuar" before a Tuesday meeting with Frey and Tom Homan.
The BBC said Bovino was leaving Minneapolis amid criticism over a deadly shooting of a nurse by immigration agents, and noted that he had been seen touring the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area after local and state authorities rejected sending hundreds of agents from ICE.
The BBC also said Bovino had been baptized as the "general chief commander" of the Border Patrol by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and that he led the Los Angeles immigration raids in June last year and the Midway Blitz operation in Chicago in September.
In Minneapolis, the controversy centered on the January 24 shooting death of Alex Pretti, an American nurse, and on January 26 reporting that Bovino would leave the city with some agents and Tom Homan would take over leadership of Trump’s immigration campaign.
Justifications and backlash
El Mundo said Bovino’s declarations about the death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, raised controversy, and quoted him saying, "Mis respetos para ese agente del ICE".
El Mundo also quoted Bovino defending the officer’s actions, saying, "Hizo lo que tenía que hacer para salvar su vida," and described Bovino arguing that a "proyectil de 4.000 libras" was heading directly toward the officer.
The BBC said Bovino’s khaki-green overcoat with wide lapels and insignia on the sleeves and shoulders sparked backlash on social media, and quoted California governor Gavin Newsom saying, "Greg Bovino dressed literalmente as if he had bought an SS uniform on eBay".
The BBC further said Bovino’s critics accused him of harsh tactics used by immigration agents during raids and against those who protested them, and it stated he was named as a defendant in two lawsuits.
Democracy Now! said Bovino was removed from his position in January after immigration agents under his command killed 37-year-old VA nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, and it included Amanda Moore describing how Border Patrol would "snipe us with rubber bullets from rooftops" by detention centers.
Operations, deaths, and stakes
Izquierda diario.es said Minnesota operations were called Operación Metro Surge and that "más de 3000 agentes" were deployed in the state, with special attention on the Somali community and on Latino neighborhoods.
“Greg Bovino, the controversial Border Patrol commander who is leaving Minneapolis amid criticism over the deadly shooting of a nurse at the hands of immigration agents - Author: Leire Ventas - Author's title: BBC News Mundo correspondent in Los Angeles - Publication date - Reading time: 9 min He is the public face of Donald Trump’s administration’s campaign to stop and deport thousands of undocumented immigrants; one of the few agents who appears on camera without a mask”
The same source said the situation intensified when ICE agents killed Renee Good, and it added that the Saturday escalation included the killing of Alex Pretti during a similar raid.
Democracy Now! said Bovino led militarized immigration crackdowns in Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, and it framed the removal in January as following the killing of Alex Pretti.
The BBC said Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act after local and state authorities rejected sending hundreds of agents from ICE, and it described Bovino’s role as the public face of Donald Trump’s campaign to stop and deport thousands of undocumented immigrants.
El Mundo portrayed Bovino as seeing the current panorama of mass raids and indiscriminate hunting of immigrants as a "sueño hecho realidad," while also recounting that he had been in Minneapolis these days as a "comandante general" of the U.S. Border Patrol.
