U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino held a new conference Tuesday afternoon in Minneapolis where he defended the work and actions of federal agents in Minnesota in Operation Metro Surge.
Bovino also accused Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, of “collusion and corruption” with what he calls “anarchist protestors.”
“Let me be clear from the start that public safety in Minneapolis is not negotiable,” Bovino said. “Our operations are lawful, they’re targeted and they’re focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community. They’re not random, and they are not political. They are about removing criminals who are actively harming Minneapolis neighborhoods.”
Bovino shared photos of three men he said were arrested in the past day — respectively from Honduras, Guatemala and Laos — whom he called “repeat offenders with serious criminal histories.” All three men, he said, have been charged or arrested sexual abuse-related crimes. The commander also accused the news media of underreporting on “the worst of the worst.”
“It’s very interesting that I haven’t seen this individual or many others like him reported on very much by the local news media or the state news media. That’s, that’s, that’s interesting,” he said.
Bovino said recent actions by the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have led to the arrests of 10,000 people in Minneapolis and Minnesota, and have halted illegal border crossings. (WCCO is working to verify the number of arrests.)
“Illegal crossings have dropped to record lows. Catch and release has ended. Consequences have been restored,” Bovino said. “Because the border is now secure, law enforcement can do its job more effectively. Agents are no longer tied up processing and releasing, releasing individuals into the interior, individuals that we just talked about. They can focus on who is coming into this country and just as importantly identifying and removing those who should not be here — and that shift matters.”
Also on hand for Tuesday’s conference was Marcos Charles, executive associate director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who said federal officers have arrested “113 illegal aliens” in the state over the past holiday weekend. Charles also claimed Minnesota has “released nearly 500 criminal aliens” instead of “turning them over to ICE” since Mr. Trump took office exactly one year ago Tuesday.
WCCO
“ICE currently has more than 1,360 immigration detainers on illegal aliens in Minnesota jails and prisons, and we’re calling on Gov. [Tim] Walz and Mayor [Jacob] Frey to turn these criminal illegal aliens directly over to ICE to keep Minnesota residents in our community safe,” Charles said. “If local officials, including those in the Twin Cities, don’t want to arrest, don’t want ICE to arrest criminal aliens that are at large in their communities, the best solution is to turn them over to us in a safe, controlled setting like a jail or prison instead of releasing them back onto the street to victimize our neighborhoods.”
Bovino compared the current operation and Operation Catahoula Crunch, recently carried out in Louisiana, by the number of federal law enforcement members who said have been victims of violence by protesters. He said one attack occurred in Louisiana, while he’s “lost count” of the attacks in Minnesota.
“These anarchists that are intent on creating violence for law enforcement, you know, I see a lot of this, that mirrors what happened in 2020 here, right here in this city, when they decided to try to burn the city down,” Bovino said, referencing the unrest in the Twin Cities following the murder of George Floyd. “It’s that same type of rhetoric, that same type of support by these elected officials, so that’s very different than what I just witnessed in Louisiana.”
Bovino said that “everything” federal officers do in Minnesota “every day is legal, ethical, moral, well-grounded in law.”
“I would impugn upon these police chiefs and anyone else elected representatives, and you have to remember many of these police chiefs do work for the Mayor Freys of the world that, turn over those illegal aliens, those criminal illegal aliens,” Bovino said.
When pressed by a journalist about “ordinary citizens … getting swept up” in Operation Metro Surge, as opposed to criminals, Bovino described those arrestees as “agitators,” “rioters” and “anarchists.”
“There’s no need for that violence that we see against law enforcement, and again it seems that the only end of it, the only people that are really dialing down that rhetoric is the federal law enforcement entities that just want to conduct legal, ethical and lawful law enforcement missions in this city to take out those violent criminals, bad people and bad things,” he said.
When asked if ICE officer Jonathan Ross — who fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month in south Minneapolis — is on administrative leave, Bovino would only say the agent is at home recovering.
Both Bovino and Charles indicated there is no end date for this operation.
WCCO Staff
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