Tracking on-the-ground movements of Cmdr. Greg Bovino, public face of ICE crackdown in Twin Cities

He’s the ever-present face, sans mask, of the Trump administration’s seven-week-old-and-counting federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.

Just as he’s done during enforcement actions in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander at Large Greg Bovino shows up frequently in Minneapolis and nearby communities, surveying agents on the ground carrying out Operation Metro Surge.

Videos across social media show the 55-year-old Bovino, often wearing an olive-colored Border Patrol trench coat flanked by subordinates and drawing jeers as he makes unannounced public appearances across the Twin Cities.

In Mueller Park in south Minneapolis in the afternoon on Jan. 21, witness video captured Bovino taking what might be his most active on-the-ground role since ICE intensified its enforcement in the Twin Cities.

Yelling “gas, gas, gas” as his final warning, Bovino activated some type of smoke grenade and hurled it at people who were angry over the presence of ICE agents. Green smoke surrounded the protesters, with some of it blowing back on an apparently unfazed Bovino as he ordered people to retreat.

On Jan. 20 at Fort Snelling, Bovino held his first Twin Cities news conference. He touted 3,000 arrests over the past six weeks “of some of the most dangerous offenders operating in Minneapolis.”

Bovino defended ICE’s tactics and decried the resistance the agency has encountered from “anarchists” he claimed are enabled by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz as agents protect “Ma and Pa America.”

Bovino, a North Carolina native, joined Customs and Border Protection in 1996 and rose through the ranks to his present position as commander at large under the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

He was on hand in Minneapolis moments after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good two weeks ago on Portland Avenue. Live streamer Andrew Mercado instantly recognized him among the many federal agents at the chaotic scene.

“It’s Greg Bovino,” Mercado said. “Greg Bovino on the ground here.”

Bovino approached Good’s crashed SUV in the midst of bystanders’ growing high-volume anger. After nearly slipping on the icy pavement, Bovino donned a helmet, as his agents do.

On Jan. 11, video captured Bovino providing crowd control at a Speedway gas station in St. Paul, where agents swarmed a car, broke out the driver’s side window and pulled a man out.

“Back up,” he shouted, before pointing and saying, “I told you once.” He then turned his attention to another person and repeated the command moments before agents loaded the man’s limp body into a vehicle.

Bovino has surveyed standoffs between protesters and agents multiple times outside the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling. That’s where detainees are taken for processing ahead of either being released or sent out of state before potential deportation from the country.

As recently as Friday, he showed up hatless and with his trench coat unbuttoned as the snow fell outside the Whipple Building. Bovino paused for a moment before stepping with a large contingent of agents toward several agitated protesters, who gave up a bit of ground in response.

Bovino’s most visible moment in the Twin Cities so far came inside a St. Paul Target store a few days after Good was shot.

A social media clip viewed more than 3 million times captured him taking a bathroom break at the store on Jan. 11, while agents stood watch outside the door.

Bovino showed no emotion while full-throated insults were thrown at him and his agents, until one man screamed, “If you didn’t have a gun or a badge, I’d beat the [expletive] out of you.”

Bovino turned his head back toward the man, then pointed in his critic’s direction while saying something to one of his armed agents.

Just one day after Good was shot, Bovino was at a Target in Richfield where agents arrested two employees, hustling them out of the store handcuffed and into a waiting SUV. Both were later released.

In another viral video, a Somali Uber driver identified as Ahmed Bin Hassan was shown asking agents why they were harassing him at work after they asked whether he was a U.S. citizen, citing his accent. Bovino approaches.

“Hey, the famous guy. I’ve seen you on TikTok,” Bin Hassan said. “Your officers coming over here harassing the hell out of me, he said ’cause I got a accent.”

“You guys want to take me in?” Bin Hassan said.

“Depends, are you an illegal alien?” Bovino replied.

“Illegal alien?” Bin Hassan said. “Man, I feel like I’m from another planet, yes.”

“Well, that counts too,” Bovino said.

The exchange was cordial, a sharp contrast to the arrests Bovino touted on Tuesday.