Multiple sources told ABC News that Customs and Border Protection Commander-in-Chief Greg Bovino is returning to El Centro, California, to resume his duties as chief of the sector.
The position of Commander-in-Chief was a temporary position.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Monday that Bovino “has not been relieved of his duties,” referring to him as “an essential part of the president’s team and a great American.”
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino looks at a gas station, after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot Renee Nicole Judd on January 7 during an immigration raid, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 21, 2026.
Evelyn Hochstein – Reuters
This comes as Bovino and some Border Patrol agents leave Minneapolis, just as Border Czar Tom Homan arrives in the city.
President Donald Trump announced Monday that he was sending Homan — bypassing the normal chain of command — as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Bovino oversee ICE operations.
“He has not been involved in this field, but he knows and likes many of the people there,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”
Noem and his senior adviser, Corey Lewandowski, met with Trump for about two hours on Monday, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. New York Times.
It was at her request, according to the Times, and her job is said to be not in danger.
Tensions over the administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement rose over the weekend after a federal agent was implicated in the fatal shooting of Alex Peretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Multiple videos of the confrontation on Saturday showed federal agents spraying Pretty with pepper spray and pinning him to the ground before opening fire.
The Department of Homeland Security alleged that Pretty approached Border Patrol agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and “resisted violently” when agents attempted to disarm him. Local officials have questioned this characterization.
This is the second fatal shooting involving a federal agent in Minneapolis this month.
Noem, Bovino and FBI Director Kash Patel defended the agents’ actions. Noem said Pretty was “brandishing” a gun and holding several magazines with the intent to harm the officers, a “massacre,” Bovino alleged. Patel went so far as to point out that carrying a gun while protesting is illegal.
State and local officials said Pretty was carrying a gun legally, with a concealed carry permit, and the video was reviewed and verified by ABC News. Pretty did not appear to point his gun at the agents and instead was holding a cell phone, not a gun, to record the agents during the incident.
