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fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE agent

Among the agents on the scene Wednesday was the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Commander Gregory Bovino. 

Bovino became a prominent figure in the federal Chicago immigration operation. On Wednesday, Bovino and Border Patrol’s role was unclear. Border Patrol typically only has legal authority within 100 miles of the U.S. border. 

MPR News host Clay Masters spoke with legal scholar César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández about that agency’s jurisdiction in Minnesota.

Press play above to listen to their conversation, or read a transcript below, edited for clarity.

This comes amid a ramp-up of immigration enforcement that appears to include at least one Border Patrol agent, Bovino. What is your understanding of the agency’s jurisdiction in Minneapolis?

One of the most innovative features of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration law enforcement during the second term has been the widespread deployment of Border Patrol agents in communities throughout the United States, far away from the U.S.-Mexican border, which is the traditional place of emphasis for Border Patrol. Some presence along the Canadian border as well, but the vast majority has historically been, for most of the last century, focused on the U.S.-Mexican border. 

But in communities like Chicago and L.A. — and before that, Charlotte, etc. — we’ve seen not only Border Patrol agents generally, but specifically Gregory Bovino, who, prior to President Trump returning to office, was a leader of a regional office in southern California. Now he’s sort of the face of the Border Patrol, and really of the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics in the interior United States. 

We’ve seen Mr. Bovino specifically in other cities. And so it would be a shock indeed if he was the only Border Patrol agent in Minnesota. He's a leader. He's there to lead other agents, presumably not simply to be walking the streets on his own.

So can you speak to Border Patrol’s methods? How are they different from ICE?

Border Patrol, because it’s historically been focused on that U.S.-Mexican border, has been the recipient and the agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws with much greater constitutional flexibility, given some decisions by the Supreme Court going back to the middle of the 1970s, in which the Supreme Court has made it quite clear that typical restraints on law enforcement officers that we’re familiar with in communities throughout the United States do not apply at or near the Mexican border. 

For example, everyone who’s trying to cross the border is going to be stopped and questioned, regardless of suspicion. And within 100 miles of the border, the Border Patrol operates 24/7 fixed checkpoints in which they again review the identities and the motives of everyone who is heading north away from the U.S. Mexican border. 

But more than that, the Border Patrol has historically also been given the permission by the Supreme Court to engage in what is essentially racial profiling — that is, to allow agents to stop people because of — as the Court put it in the 1970s — Mexican appearance. It’s essentially just describing, in a nutshell, racial profiling, and so border patrol officers are trained with that constitutional flexibility in mind.

Now, when you look at past instances where border patrol officers have killed or injured someone, are they held to the same legal standards as local police officers?

No, I’ve only ever seen one instance of a Border Patrol agent who was prosecuted for killing somebody in the course of their duties. 

That was Lonnie Swartz, who was a Border Patrol agent operating in Nogales, Ariz., who shot across the U.S.-Mexican border and killed a 16-year-old named Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, who was actually on the Mexican side of the border back in 2012. Agent Swartz was actually prosecuted for murder and he was acquitted by a jury in 2018.

The Supreme Court recently ruled on a case that involved a law enforcement officer shooting into a vehicle. Can you refresh our listeners on that decision and how it might apply in this case?

 in which it took a law enforcement officer who was engaging in a common traffic stop in the Houston area of Texas. That officer, at some point, asked the driver to get out of the vehicle. The driver opened the door and hesitated. The driver had previously turned off the ignition, but at that point, turned the ignition back on. 

The officer pulled out his gun, yelled at the driver a couple of times as the driver was starting to move, and within two seconds of jumping on the side of the car, shot the driver twice. The driver was killed. 

The Supreme Court said, “Look, we have to look at what we’re trying to figure out whether the officer acted reasonably or acted using excessive force. We have to look at the totality of the circumstances. We have to look at all of the factors that play into: Why was the officer there? Why was the officer pulling this person over?” And, of course, what happened in those crucial last few seconds where the officer jumps onto the car and shoots those fatal bullets.

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Border Patrol typically only has legal authority within 100 miles of the U.S. border. MPR News host Clay Masters spoke with legal scholar César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández about that agency’s jurisdiction in Minnesota. 

Greg Bovino, Border Patrol chief on site during Minneapolis ICE shooting

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