Trump’s Top Border Patrol Goon Posts Dark Use-of-Force Record

No other Border Patrol sector comes close to the ‘disproportionate’ level of force used by Gregory Bovino’s hardcore anti-immigration unit, according to a damning watchdog report.

Bovino, who is chief of the El Centro Sector in California and was the Trump administration’s on-the-ground enforcer in Los Angeles, is now lead commander for ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in Illinois. In the past two months, he has overseen several high-profile incidents in which U.S. citizens were assaulted and children were tear-gassed.

Old Irving Park — A 67-year-old U.S. citizen allegedly suffered six broken ribs and internal bleeding when he was dragged from his car in front of terrified children. James Hotchkiss via Reuters

This has seen Bovino and the Department of Homeland Security taken to court by journalists and activists over his team’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement and its unnecessary use of chemical weapons.

In response, Bovino has insisted his “Green Army” always uses proportionate force—though he was ruled by the judge to have lied under oath several times about the level of violence they had faced before using force.

Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino throws tear gas in Little Village, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago Headline Club lawsuit. — Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino throws tear gas in Little Village, Chicago. U.S. District Court

But a report from Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW), which analyzed publicly available federal data, appears to further undermine Bovino’s claims of innocence.

Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, who reviewed the POGO/IRW data, said: “No other sector comes close to El Centro in use-of-force incidents per apprehensions.”

The report found that in the past three years, Bovino’s agents in El Centro recorded the most instances of force per apprehension than any other in Border Patrol, and they use force far more often than agents report being assaulted.

The report’s authors say that from 2022 through 2025, El Centro logged 300 use-of-force incidents against 83 reported assaults on agents—more than 3.6 to 1—while Border Patrol overall ran just above 2 to 1. El Centro’s ratio was the highest of any sector nationwide, per POGO/IRW.

The pattern is even starker when counted by the number of agents involved, POGO/IRW reports. El Centro’s agent-level ratio of force to assaults hit 4.16 to 1, more than double the Border Patrol-wide 1.95 to 1. They found that the second-highest incident-level ratio belonged to Tucson, at about 2.76 to 1, still well below that of El Centro.

Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump and Kristi Noem — Donald Trump has requested that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem achieve 3,000 deportations a day, and Bovino is at the forefront of those efforts. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Experts say El Centro’s force stands out even after adjusting for how “busy” a sector is. “The number of reported use-of-force incidents per 100,000 apprehensions—shows that ‘El Centro is an outlier,” said Isacson.

Isacson noted that El Centro’s reported assaults per apprehension had been in line with peers until 2025, which he said “raised eyebrows.”

“Measured as a proportion of migrant apprehensions, reported assaults in El Centro are not unusual until 2025, when the El Centro Sector rises to double the rate of the second-place sector,” he said.

“This does raise eyebrows since Bovino has been so quick to allege ‘assault’ in Los Angeles and Chicago, even in dubious cases where the supposed assailants are released without charges.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino visits with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the ICE facility in Chicago to observe enforcement operations, Oct. 3, 2025. — Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino visit the ICE facility in Chicago in October. Bovino’s hardcore tactics appear very popular with his boss. DHS photo by Tia Dufour

The new analysis comes after Bovino’s tactics have faced escalating scrutiny in court. In Chicago, federal judge Sara L. Ellis imposed sweeping limits on DHS crowd-control weapons and said agents’ force “shocks the conscience”—while rejecting Bovino’s testimony as not credible, after he invented a “rock attack” story and repeated it under oath.

Days later, Judge Ellis formalized an injunction curbing tear gas and pepper-spray use on non-violent people and ordering body cams and clear IDs. The Trump administration has stated that it intends to appeal, saying it is “unworkable.”

POGO and IRW also catalog high-profile force cases under Bovino’s El Centro tenure—from an agent firing roughly six shots into a moving minivan on Highway 98, to allegations that an agent punched a Salvadoran asylum seeker near a Calipatria train station before federal prosecutors later dropped the case.

US Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino (C) leaves federal court at Dirksen Federal Building after his hearing in Chicago, Illinois, on October 28, 2025. Bovino was ordered to appear in federal court for violating a temporary restraining order issued by District Judge Sara Ellis that orders immigration enforcement agents to limit use of tear gas and other crowd-suppression items except when there is an imminent threat. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images) — Bovino salutes after leaving a federal court hearing in Chicago. KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Bovino, who has boasted that he and senior leaders “bleed alongside” agents and warned “We’re taking this show on the road to a city near you,” amplified a montage of force in Chicago on Oct. 13 captioned “Zero tolerance. The mission continues,” POGO/IRW notes.

In Los Angeles, where he helped lead “Operation At Large,” residents and advocates have alleged explosive entries, baton strikes, and vehicle tactics.

DHS, CBP, Bovino, and his El Centro deputy Daniel Parra did not respond to POGO/IRW’s requests for comment.

The Daily Beast has contacted DHS and Bovino for comment.

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