The face of Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown had one of the worst records of using “disproportionate” violence even before he got the job, a watchdog report has found.
Gregory Bovino has thrust himself into the center of military-style round-ups in Los Angeles and Chicago and been ruled by a judge to be a liar. Bovino, whom DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has been calling Border Patrol’s “commander-at-large” since October, has been wearing military-style uniform and surrounding himself with masked goons as he brawls with protesters and takes part in made-for-social media stunts.
Now a report from Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW) has shed light on his earlier role, commanding Border Patrol in the El Centro zone of the Californian border with Mexico. Bovino has remained the chief of BP’s El Centro Sector while also leading the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles and Chicago.
The report, which analyzed publicly available federal data, found that in the past three years, Bovino’s agents in El Centro recorded more instances of force per apprehension than any other in Border Patrol, and they use force far more often than agents report being assaulted.
Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, who reviewed the POGO/IRW data, said: “No other sector comes close to El Centro in use-of-force incidents per apprehensions.”
The report’s authors say that from 2022 through 2025, El Centro logged 300 use-of-force incidents against 83 reported assaults on agents—a ratio of more than 3.6 to 1—while Border Patrol overall ran just above 2 to 1. El Centro’s ratio was the highest of any sector nationwide, per POGO/IRW.
The pattern is even starker when counted by the number of agents involved, POGO/IRW reports. El Centro’s agent-level ratio of force to assaults hit 4.16 to 1, more than double the Border Patrol-wide average which was less than 2-1.
Experts say El Centro’s force stands out even after adjusting for how “busy” a sector is. “The number of reported use-of-force incidents per 100,000 apprehensions—shows that ‘El Centro is an outlier,” said Isacson.
Isacson noted that El Centro’s reported assaults per apprehension had been in line with peers until 2025, which he said “raised eyebrows.”
“Measured as a proportion of migrant apprehensions, reported assaults in El Centro are not unusual until 2025, when the El Centro Sector rises to double the rate of the second-place sector,” he said.
“This does raise eyebrows since Bovino has been so quick to allege ‘assault’ in Los Angeles and Chicago, even in dubious cases where the supposed assailants are released without charges.”
The new analysis comes after Bovino’s tactics have faced escalating scrutiny in court. In Chicago, federal judge Sara L. Ellis imposed sweeping limits on DHS crowd-control weapons and said agents’ force “shocks the conscience”—while rejecting Bovino’s testimony as not credible, after he invented a “rock attack” story and repeated it under oath.
Days later, Judge Ellis formalized an injunction curbing tear gas and pepper-spray use on non-violent people and ordering body cams and clear IDs. The Trump administration has stated that it intends to appeal, saying it is “unworkable.”
POGO and IRW also catalog high-profile force cases under Bovino’s El Centro tenure—from an agent firing roughly six shots into a moving minivan on Highway 98, to allegations that an agent punched a Salvadoran asylum seeker near a Calipatria train station before federal prosecutors later dropped the case.
Bovino, who has boasted that he and senior leaders “bleed alongside” agents and warned “We’re taking this show on the road to a city near you,” amplified a montage of force in Chicago on Oct. 13 captioned “Zero tolerance. The mission continues,” POGO/IRW notes.
In Los Angeles, where he helped lead “Operation At Large,” residents and advocates have alleged explosive entries, baton strikes, and vehicle tactics.
DHS, CBP, Bovino, and his El Centro deputy Daniel Parra did not respond to POGO/IRW’s requests for comment.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS and Bovino for comment.
