SAN DIEGO \u2014 Two prominent Southern California labor unions issued a scathing joint statement Thursday, condemning the return of Gregory Bovino to the U.S. Border Patrol\u2019s El Centro Sector and labeling the official \u201cpersona non grata\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n
The Service Employees International Union – United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) and SEIU Local 221\u2014which together represent more than 16,000 workers across San Diego and Imperial counties\u2014joined the San Diego and Imperial County Central Labor Council in calling for Bovino\u2019s immediate removal from his post.<\/p>\n
The unions represent a broad spectrum of the regional workforce, including janitors, security officers, San Diego International Airport employees, and county and city workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur communities should not be the dumping ground for reckless and dangerous law enforcement officials who trample on the Constitution,\u201d the unions said in a joint statement. \u201cIf Bovino is not safe for Minnesota, he is not safe for California.\u201d<\/p>\n
A history of friction<\/p>\n
The backlash follows Bovino\u2019s recent demotion and reassignment from Minnesota back to Imperial Valley. Bovino\u2019s tenure has been marked by intense scrutiny from civil rights advocates and labor organizers.<\/p>\n
In January 2025, Bovino drew national attention for leading high-profile immigration enforcement raids in Kern County. Critics described the operations as “flashy” and “indiscriminate,” alleging that hooded agents questioned and detained residents on their way to work while ignoring constitutional protections.<\/p>\n
The unions also pointed to data from the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, which previously found that under Bovino\u2019s prior leadership in El Centro, the sector saw the highest ratio of \u201cuse of force to assault\u201d in the nation.<\/p>\n
Demands for accountability<\/p>\n
The labor groups characterized Bovino’s return as a threat to the safety of working-class families who have long dealt with the impact of checkpoints and workplace raids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe news of Bovino\u2019s departure from Minnesota and return to California will be little solace to working families who have endured the indignity of Border Patrol and ICE raids,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWorking families must not accept a violent law enforcement official to return to California.\u201d<\/p>\n
The unions are calling for several aggressive legislative and administrative actions, including:<\/p>\n
Congressional Rejection: Urging state and congressional leaders to reject the reassignment.Oversight: Demanding \u201caggressive oversight\u201d into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) actions.Budgetary Action: Calling on the Senate to reject the DHS Appropriations bill.Impeachment: Demanding the impeachment of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.Regional solidarity<\/p>\n
The statement highlighted recent labor activism in the Midwest, noting that workers in Minneapolis organized historic work stoppages to protest Bovino’s tactics. SEIU leaders say that same spirit of solidarity is now being mobilized in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our communities and for our democracy, we demand ICE and Border Patrol out of our communities and Bovino out of a job,\u201d the unions concluded.<\/p>\n
Neither the U.S. Border Patrol nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to requests for comment on the reassignment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 Two prominent Southern California labor unions issued a scathing joint statement Thursday, condemning the return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,13909,405,13,8584,74,76,75,9993,13864,575,435,17078,10817],"class_list":["post-159308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-federal-government-of-the-united-states","tag-government","tag-politics","tag-politics-of-the-united-states","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-service-employees-international-union","tag-society-of-the-united-states","tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-border-patrol","tag-united-states-department-of-homeland-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}