Greg Bovino Purged From CBP, While Fort Snelling Approved as Tactical Base for Minneapolis Operations

SecDef Hegseth Authorizes Massive CBP Staging Ground

In a pair of rapid-fire developments today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense have signaled that the immigration siege of Minneapolis is entering a more aggressive, militarized phase.

Between the demotion of a high-ranking Border Patrol official and the official approval to turn Fort Snelling into a massive tactical hub, the administration is making one thing clear: the Twin Cities are now the front line.

The first domino fell with the reporting from The Atlantic regarding Greg Bovino. Until recently a high-ranking official within the Border Patrol, Bovino has reportedly been demoted and reassigned. He is also expected to retire shortly.

While the administration often frames these moves as “streamlining” or “leadership realignments,” it’s obvious to see this as a purge of a career official who has embarrassed the administration through the use of aggressive domestic enforcement tactics that have left multiple residents of Minneapolis dead.

However, Bovino’s sideline suggests that the administration is clearing the way for “true believers”, leaders willing to execute the siege of sanctuary jurisdictions without hesitation, while Bovino can be used as a scapegoat.

The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on continued funding for the government, and Democrats are refusing to vote for a bill that includes expanded spending on DHS. These moves are likely part of an effort to pin any shutdown on Democrats.

While leadership is shuffled at the top, the physical infrastructure for a massive operation is being assembled on the ground. According to an email obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has officially approved a request to turn parts of Fort Snelling into a logistical nerve center for CBP and ICE.

Fort Snelling, located on unincorporated land near the MSP Airport, already houses ICE offices and a detention center. However, this new approval expands its footprint significantly. The request approved by Hegseth includes a ready room space for 500 to 800 CBP personnel, parking for 300 to 500 vehicles and 10 storage trailers, space to house, maintain, and operate five CBP aircraft, and access to a magazine for the storage of ammunition and explosives.

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requests support from the Department of War (DoW) to provide existing infrastructure to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component of DHS, specifically an area for parking approximately 300-500 vehicles and 10 storage trailers, a ready room space for approximal 500-800 CBP personnel, a space to house, maintain and operate five CBP Air Assets, access to a magazine to store munitions, and other necessary facilities to support operations in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area,” the email said, using the Trump administration’s name for the Department of Defense.

The choice of Fort Snelling is no accident. Because it sits on unincorporated land, the federal government may be attempting to bypass some of the local interference or so-called sanctuary policies of the Minneapolis and St. Paul municipal governments.

By housing 800 agents and a fleet of aircraft and armored vehicles in the heart of the Twin Cities metro, the administration is creating a new base of operations for continued domestic operations, including the kinds that have taken the lives of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, along with the kidnapping, trafficking, and imprisonment of many others.

The inclusion of munitions storage and aircraft maintenance indicates that this is not a temporary processing measure, but the infrastructure for a long-term, high-intensity tactical presence.

With the infrastructure at Fort Snelling approved and the leadership at CBP being reshuffled to ensure compliance, the residents of the Twin Cities should expect a visible increase in federal presence.

The siege is no longer an operation only supported with untrained, aggressive, and bigoted federal agents; now it has a zip code, a budget, and, as of this morning, a massive tactical headquarters at the mouth of the Mississippi River.