Minneapolis, United States. President Donald Trump and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz struck a conciliatory note after a private phone call on Monday amid a crisis over a Trump-ordered deportation drive that has left two U.S. citizens dead in Minneapolis.
Calls with state and city leaders
Trump and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also spoke by telephone on Monday, and their subsequent remarks were upbeat, a shift from weeks of vitriolic public exchanges.
Administration confirms leadership change in Minnesota
A senior Trump administration official said Gregory Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol official who has drawn criticism from Democrats and civil liberties activists, will be leaving Minnesota along with some of the agents deployed with him.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump’s designated border czar, Tom Homan, would replace Bovino in the Midwestern state, leading what the Trump administration has dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
Trump said earlier that Homan was being sent to Minnesota, adding that Homan had “not been involved” in the crackdown but “knows and likes many of the people there.”
Conflicting accounts of Bovino’s status
Later on Monday, a different person familiar with the matter said Bovino had been stripped of his specially created title of “commander at large” of the Border Patrol and would return to his former job as a chief patrol agent along California’s El Centro sector of the U.S.-Mexico border.
That source said Bovino would then soon retire. Another source confirmed Bovino would return to the El Centro sector but provided no further details.
The Atlantic first reported Bovino’s demotion on Monday, citing a Department of Homeland Security official and two others with knowledge of the change, and said Bovino was expected to retire soon.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin disputed those reports on X, saying: “Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties.”
Public role in deportation crackdown
Bovino has become a leading public face and outspoken advocate for Trump’s deportation crackdowns, often seen leading groups of heavily armed federal agents on city streets.
How do you think the leadership changes will affect Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota?