Gregory Bovino, commanding general of the Border Patrol in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and one of the faces of the immigration crackdown, is leaving Minnesota after criticism sparked by the deaths of two civilians at the hands of these federal agents.
Bovino, in charge of immigration enforcement in Minneapolis under President Trump’s orders, is expected to leave the city Tuesday, two U.S. officials told The New York Times.
Greg Bovino leaves Minnesota
NEW: The Atlantic reports that Greg Bovino has been REMOVED from his role as Border Patrol “Commander at Large” and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon.
The report also says DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and “adviser” Corey… pic.twitter.com/c1PMtz5Gy8
– MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) January 26, 2026
His departure comes shortly after Trump himself announced, via his Truth Social account, that he has decided to send his border ‘czar’, Tom Homan, a veteran immigration agent, to Minneapolis to lead the deployment.
The decision to remove him from the city came two days after he made the unsubstantiated claim that the man who was shot and killed by federal agents planned to “massacre” law enforcement officers, the Times explains.
Some of the federal agents deployed around the city are also expected to begin leaving Tuesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said after a phone call Monday with President Trump, about which he did not provide further details.
All these moves come after the criticism and unrest generated by the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who was killed by federal ICE agents last Saturday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the death of Renee Good on January 7 after being shot by another immigration agent.
Trump also met in the Oval Office with Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security, and Corey Lewandowski, and his top adviser, for more than two hours Monday night, according to two people briefed on the meeting consulted by The New York Times.
The president did not suggest at the meeting that Noem and Lewandowski were at risk of losing their jobs, these people said, but it was another sign of Trump’ s concern about the reaction to Pretti’s murder.
Filed under: Greg Bovino leaves Minnesota
With information from EFE
