Tom Homan pushes Border Patrol out of Minneapolis in sweeping shake-up as Trump’s ‘little Napoleon’ Greg Bovino faces humiliating exit

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, nicknamed ‘Little Napoleon’, has been ordered to leave Minneapolis because of the major reshuffle initiated by Tom Homan.

Donald Trump sidelined Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, tapping Border Czar Homan, an ICE veteran, to take responsibility for the worsening crisis in Minnesota after a protester was shot and killed on Saturday.

Homan is expected to hold a press conference later today where he will announce the departure of Bovino and hundreds of his agents.

The decision is aimed at reducing violence that erupted between federal agents and insurgents following the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday.

Bovino, the controversial face of Trump’s crackdown and a close ally of Noem, sparked outrage in the White House when he claimed Pretti planned to ‘massacre’ federal agents.

Trump spent hours watching cable news broadcasts on Sunday and Monday and was disturbed by how the administration was portrayed, an official told CNN.

Noem branded the ICU nurse a ‘domestic terrorist’ and claimed he was brandishing a firearm, sparking further frustration among administration officials.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt distanced Trump from Noem’s language on Monday, arguing that it was not a position the President had taken.

Federal agents point guns at protesters near where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday

Border Czar Tom Homan visits ‘Varney & Co.’ January 13 on Fox Business Network

Bovino is loyal to Noem and her rumored lover Corey Lewandowski, and both have quietly put him forward as a potential candidate to replace current Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott, a longtime Homan ally.

In an unprecedented move within the agency, Noem tried to sideline Scott by having Bovino report directly to her.

Bovino’s removal from Minneapolis underscores the weakening of Noem’s standing with the White House as Trump dispatched Homan and his closest allies to seize control of the operation on the ground.

Bovino, a 30-year Border Patrol veteran, was selected last year to lead the highly publicized immigration crackdown across the country from his post as chief patrol agent in the agency’s El Centro sector in Southern California.

Their aggressive tactics, often highly choreographed public demonstrations, sparked a backlash from local authorities.

Bovino stood out as the only agent who often wore a face covering when Border Patrol descended on Home Depots and gas stations.

It went viral on social media as he was often seen on the front lines wearing a serious buzzcut and a trench coat, which German media likened to a ‘Nazi aesthetic’.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on X: ‘Greg Bovino was dressed as if he had gone on eBay and bought SS clothes. ‘Greg Bovino, secret police, private army, masked men, people literally disappearing, no due process.’

A protester detained near where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday was pepper-sprayed at close range.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to discuss a major winter storm that affected much of the country, as well as the shooting death of a Minneapolis man by federal agents in Washington, D.C., Minnesota, on January 24.

Bovino countered by claiming that he had had the coat for more than 25 years and that it was official Border Patrol merchandise.

Jenn Budd, an author and expert on the Border Patrol, described Bovino as the agency’s “Freedom.”

‘He was a little Napoleon who wanted you to think that he was the most moral and capable man in the world and that everything around you was dangerous, but he’s the one who’s going to save you,’ Budd told The Times. ‘This is all a show for him.’

He once invited reporters to watch him swim through a canal in Southern California’s Imperial Valley, hoping to deter immigrants trying to cross it.

After Trump was re-elected, Bovino used similar public relations expertise to get the president’s attention.

He sent dozens of agents to detain immigrants at highway gas stations ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told police bluntly when asked why Bovino was chosen to head the agency: ‘Because he’s a pain in the ass.’

But while Bovino’s strongman image has earned him Trump’s respect, his self-proclaimed “spin and burn” enforcement strategies have raised concerns.

In November, a federal judge accused Bovino of being “evasive” and at times “blatantly lying” in his affidavit about Chicago’s immigration crackdown, and found his account “simply unconvincing.”

Judge Sara Ellis wrote that Bovino even admitted to lying about being hit with a rock before ordering the use of tear gas, noting that the video evidence clearly contradicted his claim that he never tackled a protester.