Former Border Patrol Chief on Minneapolis Withdrawal: 'Surrender'

Immigration enforcement operations in major US cities have faced intense scrutiny, and the former official who led a controversial deployment in Minneapolis is now defending his role while attacking the government's subsequent retreat. Greg Bovino, the ex-border patrol chief who became the public face of that operation, told the BBC that the White House's decision to withdraw agents amounted to giving up. He has also declined to engage with a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a family affected by the operation.

The operation itself unfolded in January, following the deaths of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in shootings that were recorded on video. The incidents triggered bipartisan criticism and widespread protests. In response, President Donald Trump said he was 'going to de-escalate a little bit' and ordered hundreds of immigration agents out of the city. Approximately 700 agents departed the state, and Tom Homan, the White House 'border tsar', assumed control of the operation. Bovino, 56, was removed from his role shortly after the shootings. He has since retired from the border patrol.

In an interview, Bovino characterized the withdrawal as a surrender. 'You'd have to ask the administration,' he said when questioned about why he was removed from his position. 'I still haven't gotten the final word on that.' Bovino declined to respond to a lawsuit brought by the family of a woman killed during the operation, stating, 'people do lawsuits all the time'. He praised the officers deployed to Minneapolis and referred to them as the 'real victims' of the mission, which he claimed was the most violent law enforcement mission in US history. He also expressed regret for 'not going harder in Minnesota and arresting even more illegal aliens'.

The legal action stems from the death of Renee Good. Earlier this month, her family filed two civil lawsuits against the administration, alleging wrongful death and a conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of protesters. One of the suits names several senior officials, including Bovino and Jonathan Ross, the agent who shot Good, 'for their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee's death'. It argues the operation created 'an unprecedented environment for state-sponsored violence'. A White House spokeswoman has previously called the lawsuits 'baseless'. Responding to Bovino's remarks, the family's lawyers said he was 'spewing propaganda' and could not be 'judge, jury and executioner'.

The question of intent behind the shootings remains a point of contention. Trump initially said Good 'violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer', but weeks later called her death a 'tragedy' and said agents were sometimes 'going to make a mistake'. When pressed by the BBC on whether video evidence undermined his claim that Good and Pretti meant to harm agents, Bovino disagreed. 'The evidence is that violence was perpetrated against agents of the US government, and this is a society of laws and people need to follow the law. If not, there are consequences,' he said.

Bovino, who called for 'total spectrum immigration enforcement' backed by the military, also claimed without evidence that 100 million people are in the US illegally. A White House spokesperson said Trump had 'delivered the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history' and that more than 3 million illegal aliens had left the country because of his policies. Bovino has floated 'exploring' a presidential run in 2028. 'If politicians aren't going to step up and do their job then you might see something happen,' he said.