Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino gave nearly nearly seven hours of clipped, defensive, and evasive answers about his unit’s chaotic Chicago mission, according to newly released court documents.
The full transcript of Bovino’s deposition, filed in federal court Monday and reported by the Chicago Tribune, also featured lawyers trading insults and objections about his testimony about the behavior of his so-called “Green Army” during “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The needling started almost immediately: “You didn’t want to shake [Bovino’s] hand when he walked into the room,” Department of Justice attorney Sarmad Khojasteh told plaintiffs’ attorney Locke Bowman during an early break in the proceedings. “That was noted…Treat him with respect. Treat me with respect. You’re a professional.”
The transcript also details government counsel repeatedly cutting off questioning and, at one point, calling Bowman a “petulant old man.”
U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis, 56, last week torched Bovino’s credibility in a 233-page opinion on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, writing that he “appeared evasive… either providing ‘cute’ responses… or outright lying.” Her order—now stayed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals—details a video that, she said, flatly contradicts agency narratives about violent mobs justifying force.
The major flashpoint featuring Bovino came during a Little Village operation in which the 55-year-old Border Patrol commander threw tear gas into a crowd without warning.
He initially claimed he was struck in the head by a white rock before deploying gas, then walked that back days later: “I was mistaken… the white rock was thrown at me…after I deployed” chemical munitions. Ellis said he later admitted he wasn’t hit until after he tossed the gas.
Pressed with photos of the scene, Bovino dodged basics—“I can’t tell exactly what’s happening from… a picture”—while correcting counsel that he threw “two” canisters, not one. When Bowman asked whether the image showed any part of the “violent mob” Bovino described, interruptions flew.
Ellis’ written ruling catalogs broader discrepancies, including agents “almost immediately and without warning” launching flash-bangs, tear gas, and pepper balls while exclaiming “f— yeah!” and even one agent using ChatGPT to help write a use-of-force report—undermining sworn accounts of nonstop rioter aggression.
Bovino has maintained that agents confronted “violent rioters and assaultive subjects” and that uses of force were “more than exemplary,” according to coverage of his videotaped testimony. But the Obama-appointed judge concluded the government’s own body-camera videos often disproved that portrayal.
A temporary restraining order had required IDs and body-cams and limited “non-lethal” munitions, before the preliminary injunction that followed was stayed pending appeal. The case—brought by reporters, clergy, and protesters—continues.
Operation Midway Blitz began in early September 2025, when hundreds of federal agents were surged into Chicago and the surrounding area. A centerpiece was the midnight helicopter raid on Sept. 30 that netted 37 arrests but zero criminal charges.
By mid-November, DHS was touting “more than 900” arrests under the Midway Blitz, even as a federal judge faulted agents’ tactics and credibility.
After wrapping in Chicago, Bovino’s 200-strong unit shifted to North Carolina for a one-week push in and around Charlotte, where the tally hit around 370 arrests, according to the Department of Homeland Security. They left within days and are now slated to redeploy to New Orleans on Dec. 1.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for comment.
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