More than a dozen incidents led by Donald Trump’s Border Patrol chief in Minneapolis are under criminal investigation, according to state law enforcement officials in Minnesota.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is investigating now-former “commander at large” Greg Bovino and officers under his command to determine whether any laws were broken in the weeks-long surge of immigration officers into the state, where Bovino and officers have been accused of unlawfully targeting immigrants and citizens alike and violently clashing with protesters.
County prosecutors and a civilian staffer are reviewing evidence from at least 17 incidents, the office announced Monday.
Among the incidents under review as part of the state’s “Transparency and Accountability Project” is Bovino lobbing a smoke canister into a crowd.
“We will investigate and pursue charging where appropriate, and we’ll seek collaboration with local law enforcement wherever and whenever needed,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “Make no mistake, we are not afraid of any legal fight. But we will do this ethically, responsibly and vigorously.”
Bovino, who spearheaded boots-on-the-ground operations in several Democratic-led states and cities, was reportedly pulled out of Minnesota after agents under his command fatally shot two demonstrators. Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti last month just two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good. None of the agents involved in either incident have been criminally charged.
After growing public outrage and bipartisan political pressure, Trump deployed White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, and Bovino was sent back to his post at a Customs and Border Protection branch in southern California near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Separately, Bovino’s Chicago operation was marked by a wave of lawsuits and allegations of violent force, prompting a federal judge to ban officers from firing tear gas and using other riot weapons during protests after video evidence and courtroom testimony revealed behavior that she said “shocks the conscience.”
After a Border Patrol agent in Chicago shot a woman five times, she was charged with assaulting officers with her car — charges that federal prosectors later dropped after significant questions were raised about the evidence.
Hours after the shooting, Bovino congratulated an officer and offered to extend his service with the agency, according to messages released by the Department of Justice.
The victim, Marimar Martinez, is now suing the administration.
Before deploying to Chicago, Bovino reportedly pushed back against internal efforts to focus Border Patrol operations on “targeted” arrests rather than large-scale sweeps.
ICE’s acting director Todd Lyons told Bovino to focus on arresting people who are already on federal law enforcement’s radar for immigration violations and other laws, according to emails obtained by NBC News.
But Bovino said he “declined” the directive and said he reports to Corey Lewandowski, a top aide to Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem.
Hours after Pretti's killing in Minneapolis last month, state law enforcement agencies sued to block Homeland Security officials from destroying or altering any evidence from the scene, and a federal judge appointed by Trump granted the order later that night.
The judge later reversed the freeze, arguing that inflammatory statements about Pretti by top administration officials and a potentially compromised crime scene were not enough to block federal agencies from handling evidence, for now.
The administration formally blocked state law enforcement from “access to any information or evidence that it has collected” in that case.
Hennepin County officials, meanwhile, opened an evidence-collection portal to accept information from the public about Pretti’s death. Pretti’s family has also urged the FBI and Minnesota authorities to jointly investigate the death of the 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse.
“Justice and accountability requires a thorough and impartial investigation to establish the facts,” the family said in a statement last month. “A truly joint state and federal investigation would be a welcome development.”
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