Former U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino is butting heads with Department of Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin as a grassroots movement rises to draft Bovino to run for the presidency in 2028.
Bovino, a former top Border Patrol official and commander-at-large, became closely associated with the administration’s hardline deportation push before being removed from that role in January after a Minneapolis enforcement operation ended with the deaths of two far-left ANTIFA agitators. Bovino was reassigned to El Centro, California, and retired in March.
Since leaving government, Bovino has publicly criticized Trump advisers for allegedly softening the president’s mass-deportation strategy. He argued that immigration is Trump’s strongest issue and that aggressive deportations are essential to political success.
Bovino also took direct aim at Mullin at a hard-right remigration summit in Portugal, saying Mullin might be able to “fix a leaky faucet,” but that “a hundred million illegal aliens is not a leaky faucet.”
Mullin responded dismissively when asked about Bovino, saying, “I never met the guy. No, he’s irrelevant to me. I don’t know who he is.”
Bovino is positioning himself as a hardline critic from the outside of the administration, pushing for mass deportations of all illegals. Because of his bold stance, there is a grassroots movement coalescing around Bovino encouraging him to run for the presidency.
The organization, bovino2028.com, is encouraging patriots nationwide to create a groundswell behind Bovino with the hopes of spurring his entry into the Republican Party presidential primary in 2028.
"When President Trump called him into Minneapolis and across the country to quell the violent illegal aliens that have ravaged our communities...He was a man of action, a man of courage. He stepped up. He fought back," said journalist Jacob Engels, who co-founded the project to draft Bovino for 2028.
"I've spoken to tens of thousands of people across the country in the past few months and I've spoken to hundreds of activists and operatives on the ground who want the true America restored, our sovereignty gained once again and to have a country where our families can be proud to call home," Engels added.
Latina Republican activist Yovana Alvarez, another Bovino 2028 co-founder, also called into the Chris Cuomo show to make the case why Bovino is the right man for the moment.
Organizers tell the Populist Sentinel that the campaign to draft Bovino in its infancy has already gained thousands of signatures of people looking to support the Commander if he chooses to run.
Expected contenders include Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It will undoubtedly be a wide open and competitive field, and Bovino could be the wild card that would shake up the 2028 primary as Republicans look to see who can carry the baton for MAGA after President Trump is termed out.
