ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — The Border Patrol commander leading an immigration crackdown in Chicago applauded his agents’ aggressive tactics that have prompted resident backlash and lawsuits.
From his use of chemical agents to a helicopter raid on an apartment building, Gregory Bovino defended the approach of U.S. Customs and Border Protection as appropriate and necessary for what he says are threats his agents have faced in the nation’s third-largest city.
“I didn’t have any reason to think it would be this bad, but it’s far worse than I ever thought,” Bovino told The Associated Press during a wide-ranging interview between meeting employees at a suburban CBP office and sitting for another deposition in growing litigation over his tactics.
More than 3,200 people with alleged immigration violations have been arrested since ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ began in September as part of the Trump administration’s push to target cities with sanctuary” immigration policies. What started as a handful of arrests in Latino and immigrant-heavy communities has rippled across the city of 2.7 million and its many suburbs, dipping into Indiana.
Bovino spoke to AP as fresh teams were replacing agents who spent two months in Chicago, some directly from a Los Angeles crackdown. He likened officers fanning the region to police working beats, but their mission is to counteract an “invasion” of “criminal illegal aliens,” how Trump administration leaders describe people living in the country without legal permission.
“We’re what I call now sanctuary busters,” he said. “There are no sanctuaries. There will be no sanctuaries.”
Doubling down on chemical agents
Bovino is visible around Chicago, where the sight of Border Patrol agents away from international borders has startled residents.
While keeping his job as head of a Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, Bovino has done Chicago River boat patrols and led armed agents on a march along the Michigan Avenue shopping district. He’s regularly spotted in daily operations, frequently in Little Village, a Mexican neighborhood with a busy business corridor.
Sightings of agents in and around Chicago draw quick responses by activists and residents who blow whistles and honk horns as some follow CBP vehicles. Agents have increasingly used rubber bullets, pepper balls and CS gas, a synthetic irritant used by police as tear gas.
During one clash in Little Village, Bovino threw a canister of gas toward a crowd he claimed included rioters. The Department of Homeland Security said Bovino was hit with a rock. Bystanders rejected that claim, saying agents deployed gas without warning.
Bovino told the AP that using chemical agents is “far less lethal” than what agents face.
“We use the least amount of force necessary to effect the arrest, we do that,” he said. “If I had more CS gas, I would have deployed it.”
Immigration agents’ tactics are the subject of legal challenges. A judge has required them to wear body cameras and document arrests and forced Bovino into a courtroom. Suburban Broadview, the site of an immigration processing center, has also opened three criminal investigations against federal agents.
Bovino’s presence is the topic of frequent angry news conferences in the Democratic stronghold as Pritzker, floated as a potential 2028 presidential contender, and Trump have traded barbs. Pritzker argues that federal agents inflame tensions and that the increased militarization is part of a wider plot to influence elections.
Bovino points the finger at Pritzker, activists, and news outlets. He called Pritzker “wildly misinformed” while repeatedly mispronouncing his name during the interview, and took jabs at the governor’s appearance.
In response, Pritzker’s office said that the federal government has diverted valuable public safety resources to Bovino’s “publicity stunts aimed at boosting his ego.”
