Greg Bovino, a retired U.S. Border Patrol official who served nearly 30 years with the agency, has launched an exploratory committee to consider a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028.
While speaking with NewsNation, Bovino stated that the effort remains exploratory for now but that he would proceed with a full campaign “if it all comes together.”
As of this report, he initiative includes a campaign website, Bovino2028.com, which features imagery of Bovino in tactical gear, including a long coat he has said was issued by the Border Patrol more than 25 years ago. The site’s logo includes the phrase “House Bovino. Men Fight Back.” and describes a “bold national strategy” centered on immigration enforcement and restoring national sovereignty.
“Following the Commander’s maximum effectiveness in quelling the foreign hordes that have subsumed our nation’s cities, both large and small, the American people witnessed what true leadership, powered by a warrior mindset, actually looks like as The Commander endeavored to restore order and national sovereignty,” the website reads.
In public statements following the announcement, Bovino emphasized deportation as his central priority. He has claimed that approximately 106 million illegal aliens are present in the United States and has described mass deportation as essential.
Former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino launched a committee to explore a 2028 presidential run, NewsNation has confirmed. Bovino, who retired in March after nearly 30 years, was the face of the Trump administration's illegal immigration crackdown. He tells NewsNation he… pic.twitter.com/RoTHAqZyRE
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) June 8, 2026
Bovino, a North Carolina native, joined the Border Patrol in 1996 and held various field and leadership positions, including Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Sector in California. He also served in international assignments in Honduras and Africa.
In October 2025, during the second Trump administration, Bovino was appointed commander-at-large and oversaw expanded immigration enforcement operations in multiple cities. These included coordinated actions in Los Angeles, Chicago (notably Operation Midway Blitz), Charlotte, New Orleans, and Minneapolis.
In Chicago and Minneapolis, operations involved high-volume arrests in various neighborhoods, using tactics described by Bovino as “turn and burn,” which emphasized rapid entry, arrests, and movement to subsequent targets.
Bovino has described President Trump’s record on immigration as strong but has indicated a preference for more extensive measures. He has publicly criticized Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, stating that certain decisions have limited enforcement pace and affected agent safety.
He has been especially critical of Mullin’s handling of far-left riots outside Delaney Hall, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, which has resulted in numerous assaults on federal agents and several weeks of unrest. Bovino has pointed to past instances where his team deployed less than lethal crowd control munitions in order to clear rioters outside detention facilities, including one in the Chicago area that had been similarly besieged for several weeks.
RELATED: Anti-ICE Rioter Who Bit Federal Agent Has Sickening Criminal History
