In a surprising shake-up within the ranks of U.S. immigration enforcement, former President Donald Trump has made a significant personnel change following a controversial incident in Minnesota. Trump has removed Gregory Bovino, a prominent figure under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s migrant enforcement efforts, from his position and suggested a shift in strategy.

Bovino, known for his assertive approach to border security, has been reassigned back to his home state of California as of Monday. This move comes in the wake of a tragic event where a protester, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse, was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump addressed the change, offering a mixture of criticism and praise for Bovino’s past actions. “Bovino is really good,” Trump remarked before a rally in Clive, Iowa. “He’s a pretty out-there kind of guy – in some cases it’s good, maybe not here. It’s not a pullback, just a little change. You make little changes.”

To lead the immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota moving forward, Trump has appointed Tom Homan, a veteran of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a known adversary of Noem. This decision is part of an effort to de-escalate the situation following the fatal incident, signaling a potential shift in how federal immigration policies may be enforced in the region.

Trump has ordered longtime Noem rival and ICE veteran Tom Homan to take over the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota after Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse, was shot dead by agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

‘We have Tom Homan there now, we put him in there. He’s great, and they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else and we’re gonna de-escalate a little bit,’ the president told Fox.

Trump was frustrated by Noem after she branded Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist’, according to reports. Pretti was carrying a licensed handgun but appeared to have been disarmed when he was shot ten times in less than five seconds.

The president said of the killing: ‘This whole thing is terrible. I don’t like the fact that he was carrying a gun that was fully loaded … He had two magazines with him, and it’s pretty unusual. But nobody knows when they saw the gun, how they saw the gun, everything else.’

Representative Zach Nunn (R-IA) and his daughter Olympia look at U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks, in Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, on Tuesday

Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino observes a protest in Minneapolis on January 15

Pretti, 37, was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday during a targeted immigration enforcement operation

A screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters shows a law enforcement officer pinning down a man identified as Alex Pretti, before he was fatally shot when federal agents were trying to detain him in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 24

The president added that ‘both of them were terrible,’ referring to Renee Good, who was shot dead by ICE agents at a protest in Minneapolis on January 7.

He felt the tragedy particularly keenly because Good’s family were Trump voters.

‘I’m not sure about his parents, but I know [Good’s] parents were big Trump fans,’ Trump added.

‘It makes me feel bad anyway, but I mean, I guess you could say even worse. They were tremendous Trump people, Trump fans, and, you know, the daughter was, she was, I don’t know if you could say radicalized, maybe radicalized.’

Trump said earlier he was standing by Noem despite ordering Homan to oversee the Minnesota operation and report directly to him. 

‘I think she’s doing a very good job,’ the president told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday.

‘The border is totally secure … we had a border that we inherited where millions of people were coming through, now we have a border where no one is coming through.’ 

The president met Noem late Sunday night and grilled her over her handling and initial response to the shooting, reports say.

Kristi Noem is facing Trump’s wrath as he orders her longtime rival, border czar Tom Homan, to clean up the chaos caused by her immigration crackdown in Minneapolis 

Noem’s adviser and rumored lover Corey Lewandowski was by her side at the Oval Office summit which was attended by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

By the end of the night, Noem was ordered to shift her focus away from interior immigration enforcement operations and instead concentrate on securing the Southern Border.

Despite the furor, Noem is expected to keep her job – for now. 

Noem’s law enforcement ally on the ground, Bovino, was also withdrawn along with scores of his agents. Initially, Noem and Lewandowski elevated Bovino to oversee high-profile immigration raids in U.S. urban centers including Los Angeles, Chicago and, most recently, Minneapolis.

The decision stirred internal anger among immigration agents aligned with ICE because those operations traditionally fell under their jurisdiction, not Border Patrol.

Bovino was sent packing to California on Monday night as Homan prepared to take over ground operations in Minneapolis. The Daily Mail can confirm that Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott revoked Bovino’s access to government-issued social media accounts. 

A Border Patrol veteran of 30 years, Bovino was selected last year from his role as chief patrol agent of the agency’s El Centro sector in Southern California to lead highly publicized immigration crackdowns across the country.

Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a news conference in Blaine, Minn., Sunday

Noem with her close adviser and rumored lover Corey Lewandowski (right)

He often stood out as the only agent not wearing a face covering when Border Patrol descended on Home Depots and gas stations.

Bovino has gone viral on social media as he is frequently spotted on the frontlines sporting a severe buzzcut and trench coat, which German media has likened to a ‘Nazi aesthetic’.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on X: ‘Greg Bovino dressed up as if he literally went on eBay and purchased SS garb. Greg Bovino, secret police, private army, masked men, people disappearing quite literally, no due process.’

Bovino hit back, claiming he had the coat for more than 25 years and it was official Border Patrol merchandise.

Jenn Budd, an author and expert on Border Patrol, described Bovino as ‘the Liberace’ of the agency.

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

He once invited journalists to watch him swim across a canal in Southern California’s Imperial Valley in a bid to deter migrants considering the crossing.

After Trump was re-elected Bovino used similar public relations expertise to catch the president’s eye.

He sent dozens of agents to arrest migrants at gas stations along the highway ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

Asked why Bovino was chosen to lead the force, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told reporters bluntly: ‘Because he’s a badass.’

But while Bovino’s strongman image earned him Trump’s respect, his self-proclaimed ‘turn and burn’ enforcement strategies have sparked concern.

A federal judge accused Bovino in November of being ‘evasive’ and at times ‘outright lying’ in sworn testimony about an immigration crackdown in Chicago, finding his account ‘simply not credible.’

Judge Sara Ellis wrote that Bovino even admitted he lied about being hit with a rock before ordering tear gas used, and noted that video evidence flatly contradicted his claim that he never tackled a protester.