Gregory K. Bovino is the Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Sector, who entered on duty April 13.

2020 Customs and Border Protection Photo

Los Angeles has been the epicenter of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement activity.  Elliott Spagat for the Associated Press looks at the leader of the LA deportation campaign.  He notes that

“Gregory Bovino’s distinguished Border Patrol career was in a downward spiral. In August 2023, he was relieved of command of the agency’s El Centro, California, sector . . . . Bovino blamed a batch of perceived transgressions, details of which have not been previously reported: an online profile picture of him posing with an M4 assault rifle; social media posts that were considered inappropriate; and sworn congressional testimony that he and other sector chiefs gave on the state of the border during a record surge of migrants.”

Andrew Donohue, Sergio Olmos and Wendy Fry for CalMatters also offer some perspectives on Bovino  They note that “[a]t this point, Bovino’s rapid rise from one of 20 section chiefs around the country to the face of Trump’s aggressive immigration sweeps in Los Angeles almost seems inevitable. His team employs a group of five agents to make videos, cranking out dramatic, fictionalized videos portraying migrants crossing the border as menaces with a bloodlust to commit crimes.” 
 
KJ