Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino and ICE’s acting executive associate director Marcos Charles held their press conference Sunday afternoon to defend federal agents and outline the situation — all while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were busy fueling the fire at their own staged event. Bovino’s briefing was actually scheduled first, but Walz scrambled to start his press conference about a minute earlier, a transparent bit of political theater instead of cooperation.
A local Minneapolis journalist asked Bovino, “People in Minnesota want to know when this surge will end. Has there been a date set? Is there a certain number of people you want to apprehend before you decide to ease the surge?”
Democrats inflaming tensions in the city won’t like Bovino’s response:
“We continue to apprehend dozens, if not hundreds, of these criminal illegal aliens a day. We’re gonna continue conducting that mission. We’re not gonna put a date or a timeline to stop this mission. This mission’s ongoing until there are no more of those criminal illegal aliens roaming the streets of Minneapolis.”
The journalist followed up with this: “Is there a number, though? You have to have a file …”
To which Bovino succinctly replied, “There is a number, and it’s called ‘all of them.'”
? Reporter: “Is there a “goal” number of Illegal aliens you have set before you leave MN?”
BOVINO: “Yes! All of them!” ????
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) January 25, 2026
Then Charles noted:
“We’re out here to arrest dangerous criminal illegal aliens so they can’t victimize innocent people in our communities anymore. Since, the beginning of this operation, we’ve arrested three over 3,400 illegal aliens… Those are criminals who won’t reoffend in our communities.”
In addition to confronting criminal illegal aliens, federal agents also apprehended the loser who bit off an ICE agent’s finger during Saturday’s unrest, a stark sign of how ugly the situation has become. At his press conference, Bovino declined to get into the specifics of the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation, and reminded everyone that while commentators sitting in warm homes or offices can analyze every frame of video after the fact, the agents on the street had to make a split-second decision under threat:
Commander Bovino torches the gotcha crowd:
“That agent had to make a split-second decision…
You’ve had 24 hours to armchair quarterback and speculate on videos.”The investigation will sort facts from feelings. pic.twitter.com/Weq5fP3pxf
— Kim "Katie" USA (@KimKatieUSA) January 25, 2026
Echoing what Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized during an appearance on “Meet the Press,” Bovino said, “We saw the consequences of the heated rhetoric” coming from the likes of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Saturday.
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“When politicians, community leaders and some journalists engage in that heated rhetoric, we keep talking about, they make the choice to vilify law enforcement…using the term kidnaping. There are actions and consequences that come from those choices.”
Bovino: When politicians, community leaders and some journalists engage in that heated rhetoric, we keep talking about, they make the choice to vilify law enforcement…using the term kidnaping. There are actions and consequences that come from those choices. pic.twitter.com/bLmvToL7b8
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 25, 2026
He also underscored that Americans absolutely have the right to assemble and protest — but not to swarm active law-enforcement scenes or endanger lives. Protests, he said, must be conducted from a safe distance to protect officers, bystanders, and even the demonstrators themselves — a basic standard of public safety that too many activists and their political enablers seem eager to ignore.
