menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Gregory Bovino's Legacy: Lies, Violence, and Unchecked Federal Power

13 24
29.01.2026

Immigration

Autumn Billings | 1.28.2026 5:43 PM

Gregory Bovino, the United States Border Protection commander at large and head of "Operation Metro Surge," the ongoing immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, was reassigned from his post on Monday, reports the Associated Press. He will be replaced by border czar Tom Homan. This sudden changing of the guard comes in the wake of Saturday's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, which yet again spotlighted the aggressive tactics and lies that immigration agents have employed under Bovino's command. 

Mere hours after Saturday's shooting, Bovino described the shooting immigration officer as "fearing for his life" after Pretti "approached immigration agents with a 9mm, semi-automatic handgun." Bovino said, "Agents attempted to disarm [Pretti], but he violently resisted," prompting defensive shots. Bovino went further, saying that Pretti's two loaded magazines and lack of accessible identification "looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller echoed similar statements. 

Not only did this description of Saturday morning's fatal shooting fail to align with available video evidence—which depicts federal agents as the primary aggressors and shows Pretti, who never reached for his holstered weapon, fully disarmed before the first........

© Reason.com