30 Minutes Ago: Controversial Border Patrol Leader Greg Bovino Stripped of Title and Reassigned After Backlash Over the Alex Pretti Shooting.
In a stunning shake-up tied to the national uproar over the Minneapolis incident, reports say Gregory Bovino — the Border Patrol’s high-profile “commander at large” — has been removed from that role and is being sent back to his previous post in El Centro, California after the deadly shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents under his command. The move comes amid growing protests, intense political pressure, and widespread criticism of how federal immigration enforcement has been handled in Minnesota.
Bovino was a central figure in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration operations and became the public face of the controversial deployment that sparked nationwide outrage. Though Homeland Security officials have pushed back against some reports and insist he remains part of the leadership team, sources confirm that he will soon depart Minneapolis, a symbolic shift as officials attempt to quell rising tensions and demands for accountability.
👉 Click the full story to see how this leadership shake-up could reshape the fallout from the Pretti case and what it means for federal enforcement going forward.
A Border Patrol officer fatally shot a man in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, igniting further tension between local leaders and the federal government over heightened immigration enforcement actions in the city.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the shooting occurred Saturday morning while Border Patrol officers were conducting an immigration enforcement operation. Federal officials said a man armed with a handgun approached the officers, who fired “defensive shots” after the man resisted an attempt to disarm him.
The person killed has been identified as Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis resident and VA nurse. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed he was a U.S. citizen with a permit to carry a firearm.
Several bystanders recorded videos of the encounter from different angles. Videos do not show Pretti wielding a gun.
This is the second fatal shooting in Minneapolis after Trump sent thousands of federal immigration officers to the city in what the administration says is the “largest immigration enforcement operation ever.”
Officials have warned residents to avoid the area of Saturday’s shooting as protesters clashed with federal agents still on scene. Gov. Tim Walz mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to protect a federal building in Minneapolis and the scene where the fatal shooting happened.
Follow along for the latest updates.
More: Timeline of Minneapolis shooting video details killing of Alex Pretti
Shooting witness details ICE killing in court filings
In a federal court filing on Saturday, a witness of the shooting wrote that Pretti “did not brandish a weapon of any kind” and that afterwards “agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.”
The sworn declaration to the court comes in connection to a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, charging the agency with using intimidation tactics reminiscent of “pre-World War II Germany or Pinochet’s Chile” to chill free speech protected under the First Amendment.
According to the court filing, the witness, whose name was redacted, is a physician who lives near where the shooting occurred. The witness woke up on Saturday to the sound of “screaming from outside” and saw Pretti “yelling at ICE agents.”
“I saw him yelling at the ICE agents, but I did not see him attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind,” the witness wrote. “Suddenly, an ICE agent shoved him to the ground. My view of the altercation was partially obstructed, but after a few second, I saw at least four ICE agents point guns at the man. I then saw the agents shoot the man at least six or seven times.”
Afterwards, the witness went to treat Pretti’s wounds. The witness said agents were not administering first aid.
“I was confused as to why the victim was on his side, because that is not standard practice,” the pediatrician wrote. “Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard practice. Instead of doing either of those things, the IE agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.”
‘Heartbroken but also very angry,’ Pretti’s family says in statement
Pretti’s family released a statement late Saturday evening that expressed the family’s grief over the 37-year-old and also celebrated him as a “hero.”
“We are heartbroken but also very angry,” the family said in a statement shared with CNN. “Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.”
Bystander video appears to show Pretti confronting authorities holding a cell phone after one federal agent shoves a woman.
The family also slammed the Trump administration for its characterization of Pretti as someone who came with a gun to “kill law enforcement.”
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed,” the family said. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”
Pretti’s family did not immediately reply to USA TODAY requests for comment.
More: Police improved community relations after George Floyd. Is ICE a setback?
Trump DOJ Bondi targets Walz in new letter
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in the wake of the fatal shooting spelled out a list of demands in a letter to Walz that she says will restore “law and order” in the state.
According to a copy of the letter shared by Fox News, the DOJ’s demands include Minnesota share state records related to welfare and subsidized healthcare programs; repeal sanctuary city laws; and share state voter registration records.
“You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota,” Bondi wrote. “I am confident that these simple steps will help bring back law and order to Minnesota and improve the lives of Americans.”
The attorney general’s letter broadly condemns Walz’s administration, accusing the former candidate for vice president of inciting resistance to immigration enforcement. Bondi demanded the state help Homeland Security officers conducting raids in Minnesota.
Walz’s office did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Justice Department officials also did not reply to requests for information.
Democrats refuse to advance bills to avoid government shutdown after shooting
The latest deadly altercation in Minneapolis is threatening to imperil an 11th-hour scramble in Congress to get the last of its appropriations bills passed in less than a week. And it’s prompting calls to strip out a Department of Homeland Security funding measure for a separate vote amid a spiking risk of a partial shutdown on the heels of last year’s record-breaking crisis.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a 37-year-old man that Senate Democrats won’t support keeping the government fully open while also funding DHS.
“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling – and unacceptable in any American city,” he said. “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
Read more.
DHS Secretary Noem says Pretti ‘committed an act of domestic terrorism’
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters on Saturday that she agreed with the White House that Pretti “committed an act of domestic terrorism.”
“This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism,” said Noem, adding the semiautomatic handgun and two magazines Pretti was carrying indicated he intended to “inflict maximum damageand kill law enforcement.”
Pretti had a permit to carry a gun. He is not seen wielding a weapon in bystander video. Widely circulated footage of the incident appears to show agents remove a gun from a scrum with Pretti before shots are fired.
For example, one video shows an agent approach the struggle with empty hands, then emerge holding a gun. Rob Doar, an attorney and president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, told KTSP in Minneapolis that the firearm the federal agent emerges with has the same optic and coloring as the one in an image posted by the White House on social media and displayed during a news conference with Noem.
The fatal shooting sparked large-scale protests at the scene, Noem said. A Homeland Security Investigations agent had his finger bitten off during the melee, according to the secretary.
Noem blamed the “tragic situation” on Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Frey for calling immigration authorities “the Gestapo.” She said the pair “need to take a long hard look in the mirror.”
Who is Alex Pretti? What we know about the man killed by Border Patrol
Government union calls DHS narrative ‘clearly not established’
The American Federation of Government Employees, a government union that represented Pretti in his work at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, blasted Homeland Security for saying their account of the fatal shooting.
“DHS has publicly stated that the victim was brandishing a weapon at officers,” the union said in a statement. “However, based on the video currently available, that claim is not clearly established.”
Union officials offered condolences for Pretti, a registered nurse.
“What we do know is this: a member of our union lost their life today, and that alone is devastating. Our hearts are heavy, and we are deeply stricken by this tragedy that has befallen one of our own,” the group said.
The union said Pretti was a member of AFGE Local 3669, the group representing workers at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. Union officials are investigating whether the Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting was a union member, the group said in a statement.
Minnesota National Guard deployed after fatal shooting
Minnesota National Guard members on Saturday “mobilized from a ready posture to active support” of a federal building in Minneapolis and the scene where the fatal shooting happened, a national guard spokesperson told USA TODAY.
Gov. Tim Walz and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office requested the guard members deploy to secure the site of the shooting and the Whipple Federal Building, a known immigration authority staging area that’s become a hotspot for protesters, according to the statement.
“The Minnesota National Guard’s mission remains the same: preserving life, protecting property, and ensuring Minnesotans can safely exercise their First Amendment rights,” Army Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a state national guard public affairs officer, said in a statement.
State officials did not immediately respond to requests for information on how many troops would be deployed or how long the deployment would last.
