When top Trump immigration goon Gregory Bovino and his 200-strong “Green Army” of armed and masked Border Patrol agents were suddenly dispatched from Chicago to North Carolina, it wasn’t immediately clear why.
Its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, said the mission was to target “violent criminal illegal aliens” who had “flocked” to the state because “sanctuary politicians” supposedly made it a haven.
Local officials and immigration experts, though, were baffled, given there are far larger immigrant hubs—and Charlotte, the state’s biggest city, does not rank in the top 10 large U.S. cities for violent crime.
The timings have, the Daily Beast can reveal, also raised eyebrows in Washington, D.C.
“Why Charlotte was chosen has been a big question; they could’ve gone anywhere,” Pablo Manriquez, who runs the influential Substack Migrant Insider, told the Daily Beast.
“Wherever the wind takes us. High, low. Near, far. East, west. North, south. We take to the breeze, we go as we please,” Bovino wrote on X on Nov. 16, to herald the beginning of “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” quoting the famous E.B. White book from which it took its name.
Bovino is a proud North Carolina native. Eight generations of his family hail from the town of Blowing Rock, where his younger sister, Natalie, who has expressed her pride for her “hero” brother, lives. “His roots are still here. This is his home, and it runs deep,” she told the Daily Mail.
Aware of this, I half-joked on X, “Home for Thanksgiving?”
At least it was meant as a joke. But now, more than 370 arrests later, with families torn apart and taxpayers footing a multimillion-dollar bill, evidence suggests there may be some truth to it.
A Charlotte official said last Thursday that the immigration sweep is over already, and that Bovino had left the city within a week of arriving.
The announcement came one day after it emerged he and his goons were headed next to New Orleans—though notably not until Dec. 1, three days after Thanksgiving.
Newly-elected Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijala said, “Using taxpayer dollars to be able to coordinate a family meal at home at Thanksgiving? It does look a little suspicious.”
Bovino, it can be revealed, may have even already paid his family a visit.
On Wednesday, WBTV reported that between 35 and 40 Border Patrol agents puzzled local officials with their presence in Blowing Rock—a tiny town of 1,500 two hours northwest of Charlotte with virtually no crime, and where Bovino’s sister lives, but where few immigrants do—before leaving minutes later.
Census data shows that Blowing Rock is 93 percent white, with a non-white population of about 100 people.
Asked about Bovino—who a judge declared a liar this month over false evidence he gave about using tear gas—Rep. Norma Torres cast serious doubt over his North Carolina detour.
“It is not suspicious at all—[nothing] out of... this administration is [suspicious]—and I am pretty sure that this is what he is doing, to benefit himself, to ensure that he is able to be home and enjoy a holiday with his family, while he separates immigrant families,” the California Democrat said.
“His behavior has been dodgy from day one, he is an unethical person, and time and time and time again, ICE and Border Patrol have been found by our courts to be lying in their reports, and they will continue to do so until Congress holds them accountable.”
The Beast on Friday asked DHS whether Bovino’s North Carolina roots played any role in sending him and his “Green Army” there right before Thanksgiving, whether he had been in Blowing Rock and visited his family on Wednesday, and whether he now planned to spend the holiday with them.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did not respond in the negative to any of the questions, except to trumpet the North Carolina operation and to make a vague threat that Bovino “will be at [the address of the Daily Beast’s office] for Thanksgiving. 😉”
The Beast also decided to approach the man himself. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving, Greg? Nice family meal back in NC?” I asked him on X last Wednesday.
With no answer forthcoming, I tried again a day later, “Why were you guys in Blowing Rock for a few minutes the other day, Greg? (Pop. 1500, barely any immigrants, miles from Charlotte.) Were you visiting your family? Are you with them for Thanksgiving? Is that the reason the mission went to NC for less than a week?”
Usually eager to spar with critics on X, the Border Patrol chief didn’t reply.
