Federal Data Exposes Border Patrol's Extreme Use of Force

Investigative reporting by POGO shows Greg Bovino’s leadership linked to disproportionate use of force during high-profile immigration operations in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Nov 11, 2025

WASHINGTON — A revealing new investigation by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW) exposes how a senior Border Patrol official, Gregory Bovino, has led agents who use force against civilians at rates far higher than the rest of the agency.

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POGO’s full report — which you can read here — offers the clearest, data-backed look yet at a pattern of violence under Bovino, the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector Chief and one of the top tactical leaders behind the Department of Homeland Security’s immigrant raids in Chicago and Los Angeles.

What the Data Shows

Over the last four fiscal years, agents under Bovino’s command used force 3.6 times more often than they were assaulted. That’s the highest ratio in the country, according to DHS data analyzed by POGO and IRW.

Across the Border Patrol overall, use-of-force incidents exceed assaults by about a 2-to-1 ratio. But in Bovino’s El Centro Sector, incidents of force per assault reach more than 4-to-1 when measured by the number of individual agents involved — double the agency-wide average.

The numbers cover fiscal years 2022 through 2025, when El Centro recorded 300 use-of-force cases versus 83 assaults. No other Border Patrol sector came close.

“A Culture of Escalation”

Researchers say the findings paint a picture of a command culture prone to escalation.

“If there’s an outsized number of use-of-force incidents being reported in a sleepy sector, that probably tells us a lot about the reigning organizational culture,” wrote Adam Isacson, who leads defense oversight work at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

Bovino, a 30-year Border Patrol veteran, frequently deploys alongside agents during operations and has publicly defended the use of aggressive tactics. In a 2023 congressional briefing, he described his approach as “leadership by example,” saying of his agents: “Bleed alongside them, if you can.”

Sector data suggests that even when adjusting for migrant apprehensions, El Centro remains an outlier. In 2025, agents there reported 410 force incidents per 100,000 apprehensions, the highest rate anywhere along the border.

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Chicago and Los Angeles Raids Under Scrutiny

Federal courts and watchdog groups have sharply criticized Bovino’s more recent role in the administration’s “Operation At Large” in Los Angeles and “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago — campaigns combining immigration enforcement with riot control–style tactics.

In Chicago, a federal judge said the raids’ excessive use of force “shocks the conscience” and issued two restraining orders limiting what federal agents could deploy against journalists and protestors. The Department of Homeland Security is now appealing those restrictions.

Internal Justifications and Public Image

To justify the violence, Bovino and other DHS leaders have pointed to assaults on agents. But case data reviewed by POGO undermines that defense, showing use of force far surpasses documented assaults.

Despite court findings to the contrary, Bovino has continued to promote the tactics online — even posting montage-style videos of agents tackling protestors under the slogan “Zero tolerance. The mission continues.”

CBP policy bars excessive force but allows physical tactics when agents believe violence “could take place.” Civil rights attorneys say that standard, combined with lax oversight, enables abuse.

Why It Matters

Bovino’s record illustrates how operational culture and leadership decisions translate directly into patterns of force and misconduct. The El Centro data marks the first time CBP’s internal use-of-force numbers have been systematically analyzed across sectors since the agency began publicly reporting them in 2022.

POGO’s investigation — assisted by IRW’s data analysts — is one of the most precise attempts yet to quantify the Border Patrol’s internal violence problem. You can explore the full data and reporting here: POGO.org

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