Former Customs and Border Patrol “commander at large” Greg Bovino has had all of his official government social media accounts shut down after he refused to turn them over to the federal government, according to a new report.

Bovino became the face of President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration raids in so-called “sanctuary cities” in 2025, and built a social media presence around his self-administered “commander-at-large” title. He stepped down from his role after nationwide backlash to Trump’s immigration raids and the shooting deaths of two protesters, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Bovino was active on social media, especially X, but also on Facebook and Instagram, which together had some 850,000 followers. After taking over as “commander at large” of the agents sent into Los Angeles to conduct immigrant raids, he began posting flash social media videos hyping up the actions of ICE and Border Patrol agents while infuriating advocates for immigrant communities and those who had been on the receiving end of DHS enforcement.

The accounts he used to promote himself and the agencies actually belonged to the Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, regional office.

On Thursday, the accounts were shuttered, according to a Washington Examiner report.

“Chief Patrol Agent Bovino has retired from federal service and no longer has access to official government social media accounts,” a spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote in an email to the Examiner on Friday.

The outlet spoke to five people familiar with the conflict between Bovino and the federal government over the social media account.

One source told the Examiner that Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott “gave Bovino a direct order to return the pages/accounts names to reflect El Centro Sector and that new accounts would be created.”

Bovino was reportedly upset because he believed he had grown the account and that the followers were there for him, not for the El Centro Sector. He wanted to keep his social media follower count high.

“Bovino refused, arguing that the followers were his. He said he earned the followers and that his followers expected him to post from new cities,” the source said. “It was all about Greg Bovino getting attention and nothing else.”

On August 4, Bovino posted an announcement on his accounts, noting that he was changing the name of an official government account to reflect his role.

“The @USBPChiefELC Facebook page will be changing names to ‘Gregory K. Bovino, Commander-Operation At Large CA’ – @CommanderOpAtLargeCA,” he wrote at the time. “Moving forward, all content posted here will be related to Operation at Large in Los Angeles, CA.”

No other Border Patrol region chief has ever renamed a regional social media account to reflect their persona assignment.

Another source told the Examiner that when Bovino was told to give up the accounts, he said, “Those are my followers, so I’m taking them with me.”

Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager and a special employee for former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, allegedly protected Bovino from CBP’s push to reclaim his social media, according to the sources.

“Corey prevented the Commissioner from taking any action against Bovino, so that just empowered Bovino and his ego even more,” a third source told the paper. “Ever wonder why [Border Patrol] put boats on the river in Chicago? Bovino was willing to make agents literal sitting ducks just for the photo op.”

While Bovino was dabbling as a social media influencer, the El Centro region was left without an account to post news about developments there. The CBP allowed it to create three new accounts — one on Facebook, one on X, and one on Instagram — to post updates. But that meant starting fresh with zero followers and thus a diminished ability to share news widely.

An official claimed that Bovino’s decision to take the social media account for himself “damaged” the El Centro region’s ability to communicate with the public and the media.

Bovino left his “commander at large” role after the fatal shootings of two protesters by DHS agents in Minnesota. He retired two months later.

The Independent has requested comment from Bovino.