Former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is accusing President Donald Trump's advisers of losing their nerve on mass deportations, sharpening an internal fight inside the MAGA movement over how far the administration should go after months of backlash to aggressive immigration raids.
Bovino, one of the most visible faces of Trump's immigration crackdown before his removal from a commander-in-chief role, criticized the president's current team in a lengthy interview released Tuesday, according to The Daily Beast. He praised former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, defended the large-scale operations she oversaw, and suggested that officials now guiding immigration policy lack Trump's toughness.
"Everybody's got their team they're working for. And you know, I think that sometimes cold feet, whether that's polling numbers or whatever, can come into play," Bovino said. "And that's too bad, because, again, this is for America. I don't give a damn about polling numbers."
The comments come as Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Noem, is trying to recalibrate the department after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens during immigration operations in Minneapolis earlier this year. He has called for enforcement to be carried out in a "quieter way," a message that has alarmed pro-deportation groups that view any pullback as a retreat from one of Trump's central campaign promises.
Bovino rejected that softer public posture. In a live X Spaces chat on Monday, he said, "There is not mass deportation taking place, unfortunately," and argued that Border Patrol had plans to dramatically expand nationwide sweeps after the Minneapolis operations but that they were stopped for political reasons. "I think [Trump's] advisers told him to push mass deportations down," he said.
"They lack fortitude," Bovino added.
Bovino, 55, planned to retire at the end of March after leading confrontational immigration sweeps in Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major cities, where said masked border agents under his leadership clashed with residents as they searched neighborhoods for possible immigration offenders.
Bovino was removed from his commander-at-large role in January after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, where Trump officials initially portrayed the victims as aggressors before video evidence undercut those claims. Tom Homan was then named the top official overseeing the Minnesota crackdown, which was scaled back.
Bovino has continued to defend the earlier approach. Speaking to far-right activists Lauren Witzke and Edward Szall, he praised Noem's operations in Los Angeles, Washington, Portland, Memphis, Chicago and Minneapolis. "I can't think of an operation that went any smoother than the green team in those six cities," he said.
Why Mass Deportations Aren’t Happening: Tell All With Greg Bovino
— Died Suddenly (@DiedSuddenly_) April 27, 2026
Died Suddenly's investigators, Lauren Witzke and Edward Szall sit down with former Chief of U.S. Border Patrol Greg Bovino, where he tells ALL about what happened before and after Minneapolis. From Mayorkas to… pic.twitter.com/IejHgfdtPs
The clash reflects a larger divide between hardline immigration activists and advisers trying to contain the political damage from televised raids, lawsuits and public backlash. Groups such as the Heritage Foundation-led Mass Deportation Coalition have criticized Mullin's tone and questioned whether the administration is still committed to large-scale removals.
Mullin has denied any slowdown. "We're not slowing down," he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. "We're going after the illegals, and we'd love for them to leave on their own."
Still, data shows a shift in enforcement patterns. At-large arrests fell from more than 800 per day in December to fewer than 500 per day in March, according to an American Immigration Council analysis cited by the Post. ICE detention also dropped from a January peak of 70,766 to 60,311 in early April, according to TRAC data cited in the same report.
