By SOPHIA TAREEN, Related Press
ROSEMONT, Unwell. (AP) — The Border Patrol commander main an immigration crackdown in Chicago applauded his brokers’ aggressive techniques which have prompted resident backlash and lawsuits.
From his use of chemical brokers to a helicopter raid on an residence constructing, Gregory Bovino defended the method of U.S. Customs and Border Safety as acceptable and vital for what he says are threats his brokers have confronted within the nation’s third-largest metropolis.
“I didn’t have any motive to suppose it will be this unhealthy, but it surely’s far worse than I ever thought,” Bovino instructed The Related Press throughout a wide-ranging interview between assembly staff at a suburban CBP workplace and sitting for one more deposition in rising litigation over his techniques.
Greater than 3,200 folks with alleged immigration violations have been arrested since “ Operation Halfway Blitz ” started in September as a part of the Trump administration’s push to focus on cities with “ sanctuary” immigration insurance policies. What began as a handful of arrests in Latino and immigrant-heavy communities has rippled throughout town of two.7 million and its many suburbs, dipping into Indiana.
Bovino spoke to AP as contemporary groups have been changing brokers who’ve spent two months in Chicago, some straight from a Los Angeles crackdown. He likened officers fanning the area to police working beats, however their mission is to counteract an “invasion” of “legal unlawful aliens,” how Trump administration leaders describe folks residing within the nation with out authorized permission.
“We’re what I name now sanctuary busters,” he mentioned. “There aren’t any sanctuaries. There might be no sanctuaries.”
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Senior U.S. Border Patrol official Greg Bovino speaks to Related Press reporters throughout an interview Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Rosemont, Unwell. (AP Photograph/Erin Hooley)
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Senior U.S. Border Patrol official Greg Bovino speaks to Related Press reporters throughout an interview Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Rosemont, Unwell. (AP Photograph/Erin Hooley)
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Doubling down on chemical brokers
Bovino is seen round Chicago, the place the sight of Border Patrol brokers away from worldwide borders has startled residents.
Whereas retaining his job as head of a Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, alongside the U.S.-Mexico border, Bovino has accomplished Chicago River boat patrols and led armed brokers on a march alongside the Michigan Avenue procuring district. He’s recurrently noticed in every day operations, ceaselessly in Little Village, a Mexican neighborhood with a busy enterprise hall.
Sightings of brokers in and round Chicago draw fast responses by activists and residents who blow whistles and honk horns as some observe CBP automobiles. Brokers have more and more used rubber bullets, pepper balls and CS gasoline, an artificial irritant utilized by police as tear gasoline.
Throughout one conflict in Little Village, Bovino threw a canister of gasoline towards a crowd he claimed included rioters. The Division of Homeland Safety mentioned Bovino was hit with a rock. Bystanders rejected that declare, saying brokers deployed gasoline with out warning.
Bovino instructed the AP that utilizing chemical brokers is “far much less deadly” than what brokers face.
“We use the least quantity of pressure essential to impact the arrest, we try this,” he mentioned. “If I had extra CS gasoline, I might have deployed it.”
Immigration brokers’ techniques are the topic of authorized challenges. A choose has required them to put on physique cameras and doc arrests and compelled Bovino right into a courtroom. Suburban Broadview, the location of an immigration processing heart, has additionally opened three legal investigations in opposition to federal brokers.
Praising a raid that amplified tensions
Brokers have made arrests outdoors courthouses, colleges, houses and, more and more on freeways. On Monday, a half-dozen brokers visited a truck cease in Hampshire, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) outdoors Chicago, to knock on truck cabs and ask drivers in the event that they have been U.S. residents. The operation resembled Border Patrol checkpoints which are frequent alongside the Mexican border. The AP witnessed two arrests — an Uzbek man and a Russian driver with a pending asylum software.
Bovino spoke shortly after President Donald Trump endorsed his administration’s use of tear gasoline and different techniques hardly ever seen away from the border as a result of “you need to get the folks out.”
“I feel (the raids) haven’t gone far sufficient as a result of we’ve been held again by the judges, by the liberal judges, that have been put in by Biden and by Obama,” Trump mentioned in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday.
Bovino insists some Chicago residents have thanked him, together with throughout the aftermath of a raid the place a whole lot of brokers stormed an residence constructing within the largely Black South Shore neighborhood that’s had an inflow of migrants and prompted frequent complaints.
Brokers used a Blackhawk helicopter to rappel onto the constructing and explosives to open doorways in a raid that critics referred to as extreme and inhumane.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker referred to as for investigation into reviews that kids have been zip tied as a number of U.S. residents have been additionally held for hours. Federal authorities mentioned they arrested two folks with alleged Tren de Aragua avenue gang connections, together with dozens suspected of violating immigration legal guidelines.
Bovino mentioned company intelligence confirmed the constructing was a menace, which prompted the extraordinary method.
“Lots of people mentioned that was a bit an excessive amount of. Effectively, precisely how would they intend to get, a security ingredient onto the roof to make it protected for these going into that residence or the neighboring buildings?” he mentioned. “I’m proud to say that that went off about nearly as good because it presumably can.”
Bovino mentioned he hasn’t seen proof of Border Patrol groups having contact with kids, regardless of residents’ accounts and video, together with in a neighborhood the place folks mentioned kids getting ready for a Halloween parade have been uncovered to tear gasoline.
Blaming elected leaders and activists
Bovino’s presence is the subject of frequent indignant information conferences within the Democratic stronghold as Pritzker, floated as a possible 2028 presidential contender, and Trump have traded barbs. Pritzker argues that federal brokers inflame tensions and that the elevated militarization is a part of a wider plot to affect elections.
Bovino factors the finger at Pritzker, activists and information retailers. He referred to as Pritzker “wildly misinformed” whereas repeatedly mispronouncing his title throughout the interview, even after being referred to as out, and took jabs on the governor’s look.
In response, Pritzker’s workplace mentioned Tuesday that the federal authorities has diverted invaluable public security assets to Bovino’s “publicity stunts aimed toward boosting his ego.”
Bovino wouldn’t say when the Chicago operation would wind down or say what metropolis is likely to be the following goal, urging the ingredient of shock.
“We’re going to be in Chicago a superb whereas,” he mentioned. “However you simply by no means know.”
Related Press reporter Elliot Spagat contributed.
