Gregory Bovino, who became a face of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics in large cities, confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that he plans to retire from the Border Patrol in the coming weeks.
Bovino, 55, joined the Border Patrol in 1996 and steadily rose through the ranks. But he wasn't well-known outside the agency until last June, when he became commander of the administration's crackdown in Los Angeles, which resulted in thousands of arrests, most notably near Home Depots and at car washes. Agents smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house and patrolled the fabled MacArthur Park. on horseback.
Bovino, who often appeared in tactical gear, took his act to Chicago, patrolling down the Chicago River, in the Michigan Avenue tourist district and in neighborhoods across the city and suburbs. He led a helicopter raid at a large apartment building and used chemical agents to face demonstrators.
After short stops in Charlotte, North Carolina, and New Orleans, Bovino was a near-daily presence as Minnesota's Twin Cities turned into a battleground between demonstrators and immigration authorities that led to the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Bovino left Minnesota shortly after Pretti was killed on Jan. 24 and was replaced by White House border czar Tom Homan.
Bovino retires as chief of the Border Patrol's El Centro, California, sector, a position he held since 2020.
“We’re not going to hit one location. We’re going to hit as many as we can. All over — all over — the Los Angeles region, we’re going to turn and burn to that next target and the next and the next and the next, and we’re not going to stop. We’re not going to stop until there’s not a problem here.”
Bovino in an Aug. 25 interview with the AP describing his “turn and burn” approach to racking up immigration arrests.
“What happens at the border, even 100 years ago, didn’t stay at the border, and it still doesn’t. That’s why we’re here in Los Angeles.”
Bovino, in AP interview, explaining the Border Patrol's increasing presence away from the border.
“We use the least amount of force necessary to effect the arrest, we do that. If I had more CS gas, I would have deployed it.”
Bovino, in a Nov. 3 interview with the AP, on throwing a canister of gas at a crowd in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. The Department of Homeland Security said Bovino was hit with a rock. Bystanders rejected that claim and said agents deployed gas without warning. A federal judge later said Bovino lied about the encounter.
“My role is not to tell you that you can or cannot enforce validly passed laws by Congress. … My role is simply to see that in the enforcement of those laws, the agents are acting in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution.”
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordering Bovino on Oct. 28 to provide daily briefings on how his agents are enforcing the law in Chicago.
“This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Bovino at a Jan. 24 news conference on the fatal shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti by federal authorities. His version of events was immediately called into question by eyewitness videos.
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“I don't think it's a pullback, it's a little bit of a change. Everybody in this room that has a business, you know you make little changes. You know Bovino's very good, but he's a pretty out there kind of a guy, and in some cases, that's good, maybe it wasn't good here.”
President Donald Trump, on Bovino's reassignment from Minnesota in a Jan. 27 interview with Fox News Channel.
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“She is the best Secretary I ever worked for, period. The others weren’t even close. Noem is the ultimate patriot.”
Bovino commenting March 5 on Trump firing Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security.
FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, center, and other federal immigration officers stop at a gas station, Jan. 13, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)
FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino warns members of the media to keep back, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)
FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino shouts at protesters, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow to the Islamic Republic’s leadership as it faces its greatest test in decades.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war. Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij.
Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule.
Iran, which confirmed both killings, fired salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel.
Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days as the war showed no signs of abating.
With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, an Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.
President Donald Trump said NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the strait.
The Israeli military said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, who began firing rockets into the northern Israel after the joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran began last month.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Larijani and Soleimani “were eliminated” in overnight strikes. The Israeli military said it also struck more than 10 Basij posts across Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at “undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it.” There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the American and Israeli strikes.
The Iranian judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, quoted the Revolutionary Guard as confirming the killing of Soleimani. Other Iranian state media confirmed Larijani’s death.
Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, advised the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role “coordinating” Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests.
Soleimani was also sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations, over his role in suppressing dissent for years through the Basij.
The reported killings of Larijani and Soleimani came on the eve of “Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire, shortly before the Persian new year. Authorities have sent threatening text messages telling the public not to celebrate the festival, warning the rowdy celebrations could be used by “rioters.”
State media aired footage Tuesday of pro-government demonstrations, including images of men in plainclothes brandishing assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — signaling the government's intent of preventing protests against the theocracy.
State television later showed crowds of women wrapped in black and older men waving flags and portraits of the late Khamenei.
In Iraq, two drones were shot down by the U.S. Embassy's defense system in Baghdad, while a third drone crashed inside the compound, according to two Iraqi security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.
An Associated Press journalist saw a massive fire that appeared to be engulfing a structure in the compound. There was no immediate comment from the embassy.
In the United Arab Emirates, an oil facility in Fujairah was hit, and a man was killed in Abu Dhabi by debris from an intercepted missile — the eighth person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones, while air defenses could be heard targeting incoming fire over Qatar’s capital, Doha.
Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, is sparking concerns about tightening energy supplies — unnerving the world economy.
A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran has said the waterway technically remains open — just not for the United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck.
With oil prices rising, Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the strait.
Trump fumed Tuesday that the U.S. is not getting support “despite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot” be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.
The European Union’s top diplomat says the 27-nation bloc does not want to be dragged into the conflict with Iran. “This is not Europe’s war,” Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers. “We were not consulted.”
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier reaffirmed that France is ready to help secure the strait, but only after heavy bombing has stopped.
The Israeli military said it hit Iran command centers, missile launch sites and air defense systems. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran, where little information has been coming out due to internet outages, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started Feb. 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
The Lebanese army said that three soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that an airstrike near Beirut’s international airport killed one person and wounded nine, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israel’s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese — roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says 912 people have been killed. In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
A top U.S. counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday, citing concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war.
His resignation reflects unease about the war within Trump’s political base just as midterm election races start to heat up. Trump’s MAGA coalition is splintering over what it sees as the president’s failure to keep his “America First” campaign promise by leading the U.S. into a war that is driving up gas prices.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that he always thought Kent — the president’s pick to lead the counterterrorism center — was “weak on security” and that if someone in his government did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”
Rising reported from Bangkok, Corder from The Hague, Netherlands, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Koral Saeed in Herzliya, Israel; and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)
FILE - Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran's National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE -Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with the Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - Commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
A view of a building damaged in an Israeli airstrike, in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Two men ride their motorbike past a billboard of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
U.S. Embassy is seen across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Fire and plumes of smoke rises after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)
Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
