loading . . . CHICAGO — Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino and federal immigration agents under his command could be leaving Chicago as soon as this week, according to media reports.
Unnamed sources told the Chicago Tribune and CBS News that Bovino — the controversial leader heading up the Trump administration’s Operation At Large — is expected to leave Chicago for another assignment.
Most, but not all, of the Border Patrol agents under his command are also expected to exit the city, though that could change, sources told the Tribune and CBS.
Some Border Patrol agents could be headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, though plans could change, CBS reported, citing sources. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents are expected to continue their enforcement activity in the Chicago area, CBS reported.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined comment to the Tribune and CBS News.
The news leak came on the same day that Bovino and Border Patrol agents were spotted posing for a photo op in front of the Bean in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Bovino announced the launch of Operation at Large in September, a week after the start of Operation Midway Blitz, a separate immigration enforcement effort led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Both are presumably focused on arresting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal histories.
In the months since, federal agents have shot at least two people, killing one; repeatedly tear-gassed protesters and first responders; shot rubber bullets at protesters; detained U.S. citizens, including children; handcuffed a Chicago alderperson in a hospital; smoke bombed and tear-gassed a Chicago street; fired a chemical weapon at a TV reporter and detained a journalist, among other incidents.
Bovino has been a visible figure since arriving in Chicago, posing for photo ops aboard a boat on the Chicago River and Downtown.
He has also been an active participant in immigration raids across the city, seen on video tear-gassing crowds of residents in the Little Village neighborhood, among other incidents, and is at the center of a federal lawsuit challenging agents’ use of force throughout the immigration crackdown.
Last week, as she federal judge Sara Ellis blasted Bovino, saying he admitted in a deposition that he lied when claiming he was hit by a rock before tear-gassing people in Little Village.
At the same hearing, Ellis extended restrictions she put on area immigration agents’ use of force and crowd control tactics. This week, the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal to the block the order, calling it “unworkable.”
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