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Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, the face of the Trump administration’s campaign to arrest and deport criminal illegal immigrants, will be leaving Minnesota, along with some border agents, amid violent, and sometimes deadly, clashes between federal authorities and anti-ICE agitators.
Bovino and an unspecified number of U.S. Border Patrol agents will be leaving the state as soon as Tuesday, multiple federal sources told Fox News.
The news came the same day that President Donald Trump announced that he would be deploying border czar Tom Homan to take point in Minnesota.
White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday defended Bovino, calling him a “wonderful man, and he’s a great professional.”
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People yell at U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and other agents while they stop at a gas station. Bovino will be leaving Minnesota amid contentious immigration enforcement operations, sources told Fox News. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“He is going to very much continue to lead Customs and Border Patrol, throughout and across the country,” Leavitt said. “Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis to follow up.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Before leading operations throughout the country, Bovino was chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector in Southern California, which is responsible for 70 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and covers Imperial and Riverside counties.
Bovino has been criticized by opponents of Trump’s deportation campaign over tactics used by federal immigration authorities to apprehend criminal illegal aliens.
News of Bovino’s departure came after a deadline weekend in which 37-year-old nurse Alex J. Pretti was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Pretti, who was armed with a handgun, was filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street.
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A Border Patrol agent chatted with a protester in Minnesota on Thursday, finding common ground over military service. (Brendan Gutenschwager via Storyful)
Authorities said Pretti was resisting disarmament when he was shot.
At the time, authorities were targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal immigrant with a criminal history including domestic assault for intentional conflict with bodily harm, disorderly conduct and driving without a valid license.
Trump said Homan will report “directly to me” and will help lead the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
“I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
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“Separately, a major investigation is going on with respect to the massive 20 Billion Dollar, Plus, Welfare Fraud that has taken place in Minnesota, and is at least partially responsible for the violent organized protests going on in the streets,” he continued.
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