- Published
The former US border patrol chief who became the public face of the highly controversial deportation drive in Minneapolis earlier this year has defended the operation, describing the withdrawal of agents from the city as a "surrender" by the Trump administration.
In an interview with the BBC, Greg Bovino also said he was "not responding" to a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman shot dead during the operation. He appeared to dismiss the legal action, praising the officers deployed to Minneapolis and saying "people do lawsuits all the time".
Bovino, 56, was removed from his role shortly after the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.
The two shootings, which were captured on video, triggered a bipartisan backlash and widespread protests. Trump then said he was "going to de-escalate a little bit" and withdrew hundreds of immigration agents from the city.
Earlier this month, Good's family filed two civil lawsuits against the Trump administration over her killing, alleging wrongful death and a conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of protesters.
One of the lawsuits names several top officials, including Bovino and Jonathan Ross, the agent who shot Good, "for their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee's death". It alleges that the government's operation in Minneapolis created "an unprecedented environment for state-sponsored violence".
Asked about Bovino's remarks, the family's lawyers said he was "spewing propaganda" and could not be "judge, jury, and executioner". They added: "Our legal team looks forward to the depositions of Mr Bovino and all of the defendants in this matter".
A White House spokeswoman previously called the lawsuits "baseless".
Speaking in Detroit where he was campaigning for tougher immigration enforcement, Bovino said the administration "threw the towel in" and called for more deportations, which he said were now at a "virtual standstill".
He added that he regretted "not going harder in Minnesota and arresting even more illegal aliens".
Bovino said his agents in Minneapolis were the "real victims" of what he called "the most violence that any law enforcement mission ever in the history of the United States has been up against".
Challenged by the BBC over how immigration agents handled both shooting incidents, Bovino rejected suggestions that video evidence undermined his claim that Good and Pretti had intended to harm the agents.
"The evidence is that violence was perpetrated against agents of the US government, and this is a society of laws and people need to follow the law. If not, there are consequences," he said.
Trump initially blamed Good's own actions for her death, saying just hours after she was killed that she "violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer". Weeks later, he called her death a "tragedy" and said agents were sometimes "going to make a mistake".
The withdrawal from Minnesota, which saw some 700 immigration agents leave the state, also saw Bovino removed from his post. The operation was taken over by the White House 'border tsar' Tom Homan.
When asked why he was removed, Bovino told the BBC: "You'd have to ask the administration. I still haven't gotten the final word on that."
Kristi Noem, who was Homeland Security Secretary at the time of the operation, was fired by Trump in March.
Bovino has since retired from the US border patrol. He has become known for his hardline stance on immigration, often going further in his statements than Trump's own officials and claiming without evidence that 100 million people are illegally in the US and should be deported.
He has called for "total spectrum immigration enforcement" with support from the US military involving "cruise ships packed to the gills, cars, planes, trains, automobiles, all headed out of the United States packed with illegal aliens".
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When asked about Bovino's comments about Minneapolis, a White House spokesperson said "the president has delivered the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history".
"He stopped the invasion of our country and as a result of his policies more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the US," they said.
Bovino has also floated "exploring" a presidential run in 2028. "If politicians aren't going to step up and do their job then you might see something happen," he told the BBC when asked about his intentions.
Bovino recently addressed a far-right rally by activists in Michigan who are calling for authorities to deport Abdul El-Sayed, a US citizen and Democratic candidate running in the state's tightly fought race for a Senate seat.
American-born Sayed would be the first Muslim member of the Senate if he wins the seat against Republican Mike Rogers.