U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino is now reportedly leaving Minneapolis, Minnesota along with several other Border Patrol officials, according to a new report.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez reported Monday that Bovino and an unnamed number of Border Patrol agents will be called back to their original offices before they were deployed as part of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. Alvarez called it "a major shift in strategy" by President Donald Trump's administration.
"Gregory Bovino has been a key player in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and became, in many ways, a public face of that crackdown across cities in the country, most recently in Minneapolis," Alvarez said. "We are now being told by sources that he is now going to be departing Minneapolis with some of his Border Patrol agents tomorrow and going back to their respective sectors."
According to Alvarez, the decision to pull Bovino out of Minnesota was due to "frustration within the administration over the handling and the public response of Saturday's shooting" of 37 year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by federal agents. She noted that Bovino "has been a controversial figure in all of this."
"This doesn't mean, though, that all Border Patrol agents are leaving. Some will stay to continue supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Alvarez said. "But the face, the key player of this is going to be leaving the city tomorrow, according to sources."
When CNN host Anderson Cooper asked if there was a hard number of agents who would be leaving – given that there are an estimated 3,000 federal agents on the ground in Minneapolis — Alvarez said the administration typically keeps "their cards close to their chest" regarding immigration enforcement. However, she observed that Bovino's departure would still mark a significant change in personnel.
"The numbers are always hard to come across ... But all the same, his agents still make up a good share of the Border Patrol agents on the ground, so them leaving would certainly make a difference in the city of Minneapolis," she said.
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