Return of Border Patrol commander worries community members
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz, in for Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s Monday, February 2nd>>>> Imperial County residents are concerned about the return of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino
More on that next. But first... the headlines….#######
EL CAJON WILL HOLD ITS 20-26 STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS TOMORROW.
IT WILL BE DELIVERED BY EL CAJON MAYOR BILL WELLS AND THE CITY COUNCIL.
THEY PLAN TO LOOK BACK ON KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND OUTLINE THE CITY’S FUTURE GOALS AND INITIATIVES.
THEY’LL ALSO HONOR CITIZENS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE COMMUNITY.
THE EVENT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND WILL BE HELD AT THE RONALD REAGAN COMMUNITY CENTER ON DOUGLAS AVENUE.
DOORS WILL OPEN AT 6PM AND THE EVENT STARTS AT 6:30.
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SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS 2, 4, 6 AND 8 ARE UP FOR RE-ELECTION THIS YEAR.
AND THE OFFICIAL NOMINATION PERIOD STARTS ON WEDNESDAY.
INTERESTED CANDIDATES CAN GET NOMINATING PAPERS FROM THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE.
DISTRICTS 2 AND 8 ARE OPEN SEATS, WITH THE INCUMBENTS TERMED OUT.
COUNCILMEMBER HENRY FOSTER III IS RUNNING FOR A SECOND TERM IN DISTRICT 4. AND COUNCILMEMBER KENT LEE IS BACK ON THE BALLOT IN DISTRICT 6.
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IF YOU’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT CHECKING OUT ONE OF THE COUNTY’S MANY MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS, FEBRUARY IS A GOOD TIME WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR BUDGET.
IT’S MUSEUM MONTH… WHERE YOU CAN GET HALF-OFF ADMISSION TO MORE THAN 70 MUSEUMS AROUND THE COUNTY. THE SAN DIEGO MUSEUM COUNCIL’S TOM FELKNER SAYS YOU JUST NEED ONE THING.
FEBMUSEUM 2A :13
“You just need to get a printed pass. They're free from any of almost 90 libraries throughout the county. You can go to the county, city, and the Geisel Library at UC San Diego. So there's plenty of places to pick it up.”
YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD THE PASSES AT SAN DIEGO MUSEUM COUNCIL DOT ORG. BUT A FEW MUSEUMS ONLY ACCEPT THE PRINTED PASS.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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BEFORE GREGORY BOVINO BECAME THE FACE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION EFFORT HE WAS THE HEAD OF THE EL CENTRO SECTOR OF THE BORDER PATROL. AFTER TWO FATAL SHOOTINGS OF U.S. CITIZENS IN MINNEAPOLIS HE’S REPORTEDLY ON HIS WAY BACK TO THE IMPERIAL VALLEY. REPORTER ANDREW DYER SPOKE TO RESIDENTS THERE.
BOVINO2 feature
Irrigated farms stretch for miles along the north and south sides of Interstate 8 in Imperial County.
At the heart of the county is the city of El Centro – a fairly conservative agricultural community thrust into the spotlight with the reported return of Gregory Bovino.
Resident Frances Beope says immigration can be a touchy subject in the valley.
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Frances Beope, El Centro resident
the whole immigration situation here? Because we're a border town is a real sensitive issue.
She says the Border Patrol has been a part of the community for a long time and, outside of agriculture and education, there aren’t a lot of career opportunities in the region.
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Frances Beope, El Centro resident
so what happens is, a lot of our families are integrated. So a lot of the Border Patrol happen to be local. They are our neighbors. There are cousins.
Outside a Denny’s restaurant just off the interstate we met up with Ocotillo resident Edie Harmon
As an environmental activist she’s dealt with the Border Patrol a lot, and met with Bovino in 2020. She says she’s shocked by what she’s seen of him lately on T-V.
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Edie Harmon, Ocotillo resident
the person that I've seen on TV in recent weeks or recent months is not the same person that I thought he. Was when I talked to him. I mean, I. I don't I don't understand why he wants to be seen as mean and nasty. And yet that's what I think he that he is trying very hard to come across as somebody that doesn't care about other people at all.
Bovino began his career with the Border Patrol in El Centro in 1996. He got promoted a couple times and was then sent to Washington, D-C eight years later. He soon returned to California serving in Blythe and Imperial Beach.
In 2020 he was appointed chief patrol agent in El Centro.
He was briefly relieved of command in 2023 after controversial social media posts. But was back in the job weeks later.
Then this past June , Donald Trump appointed Bovino commander-at-large and he’s led aggressive, controversial operations in Los Angeles, Chicago and, most recently, Minneapolis.
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Eric Montoya Reyes, Los Amigos de la Comunidad
I’m disappointed that he just didn't fade into the sunset, as he should,
Eric Montoya Reyes is a community organizer in the valley. We met him in El Centro’s Bucklin Park.
He says immigrants are essential to Imperial County.
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Eric Montoya Reyes, Los Amigos de la Comunidad
this community will not live without the cross border immigrant population that we have. They harvest our our fields and our people that live here won't do. They take care of our grounds and children. And so on, and they do it at a subsistence level of pay, allowing a lot of people here to make a lot of money
Like everyone we spoke with he’s disturbed by the violent tactics of Customs and Border Patrol agents under Bovino and Trump’s mass deportation effort.
He wonders if Bovino returns what he’ll bring with him.
Eric Montoya Reyes, Los Amigos de la Comunidad
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I'm hoping that doesn't become the norm here in Imperial County as well. We haven't had that type of tactics used. It has not been this type of gang gang mentality tactics and, and abuse of people's rights and even people who are there just to watch have been abused and even murdered, as we've seen recently. So, yes, I'm very worried.
Nats flagpole
An hour later we’re 25 miles north of El Centro near the Salton Sea. The city of Calipatria is home to what they say is the world’s tallest flagpole.
Across the street at city hall we meet its mayor — 21-year-old Michael Luellen.
Luellen may be a government official but he talks like an activist and says he wants more elected officials to put themselves out there.
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Michael Luellen, mayor, Calipatria
I'm tired of folks on the left with their performative Ice immigration detention facility, tours with their photo ops,...
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Michael Luellen, mayor, Calipatria
… that's not good enough, and the Democratic Party must stand for more.
He says he doesn’t appreciate the administration sending Bovino back to the area.
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Michael Luellen, mayor, Calipatria
The El Centro sector is the premier sector for Border Patrol. Why are we treated as a wasteland, as some place where they could send their their political scraps, their failed projects..
Horn nats
We wrap up the day back in El Centro across the street from the Border Patrol station. A handful of residents are protesting Bovino and ICE.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to questions about Bovino’s future and we haven’t independently confirmed he’s been reassigned to El Centro.
But, his home is here, nearby in the city of Imperial. For everyone we spoke with, that remains an issue.
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Michael Luellen, mayor, Calipatria
my issue is with Greg Bovino and the fact that he's going to return 25 minutes away from here after terrorizing people who look like me….
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…and pretend life is fine.
Bovino reportedly left Minnesota last week in a motorcade and has been seen making his way southwest.
From El Centro, Andrew Dyer, KPBS News.
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PROTESTS AGAINST FEDERAL IMMIGRATION OPERATIONS CONTINUED ACROSS THE COUNTRY ON FRIDAY.
ORGANIZERS CALLED IT A "NATIONWIDE ECONOMIC BLACKOUT".
REPORTER JAKE GOTTA SAYS SOME LOCAL BUSINESSES AND SCHOOLS JOINED IN.
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Owners of VERBATIM BOOKS IN NORTH PARK say they are DONATING ALL OF FRIDAY’S PROCEEDS TO BORDER ANGELS. That’s AN ORGANIZATION THAT ADVOCATES FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM AND WORKS TO HELP THOSE NAVIGATING THE SYSTEM.
OWNER JUSTINE ENITSUJ SAYS VERBATIM IS MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE; ITS ALWAYS BEEN A COMMUNITY SPACE
“Well, we definitely, you know, stand in solidarity with the economic strike. We did want to support them any way we can. This is just a small way that I thought it would be, You know, something we could do.”
SARAH BARRETT IS AN ORGANIZER IN MIRA MESA WHO SAYS ITS IMPORTANT TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT
“Who knows how much impact today will have. But it's a statement. It gives people a sense of power. And I think when people feel a sense of power, change can happen. It's the feeling powerless is what they want us to feel. And that's what takes away our voice.”
AND STUDENTS AT MIRA MESA HIGH SCHOOL WALKED OUT TO JOIN THE PROTEST.
A SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SPOKESPERSON CONFIRMED MULTIPLE WALKOUTS HAPPENED AT SCHOOLS AROUND THE CITY
JG KPBS News
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IT'S BEEN MORE THAN FOUR YEARS SINCE SAN DIEGO INSTALLED PROTECTED BIKES ON A MAJOR STREET IN NORTH PARK. METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS DATA SHOW THE BIKE LANES ARE GROWING IN POPULARITY.
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AB: The bike lanes on 30th Street in North Park have been controversial. Businesses feared they would lose customers due to a loss of street parking. A group of residents even sued the city in an effort to block the project. But bike counters installed just south of University Avenue logged a ridership record in 2025: nearly 132,000 trips. That's a 15% jump over four years. Jason Vance is chair of the North Park Community Planning Group.
JV: North Park is rapidly densifying. We're seeing all these giant buildings go in, and there's just not enough space for cars. So bikes are allowing more freedom of mobility. You'll notice there's never traffic in the bike lanes because they generally flow freely. They're small and nimble. They don't get stuck in traffic the way that cars do.
AB: As to the fears that the bike lanes would hurt businesses… North Park is still a happening neighborhood with new businesses filling up previously vacant storefronts. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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SAM RAIMI, THE MAN WHO CREATED THE EVIL DEAD FRANCHISE, RETURNS TO HORROR WITH HIS LATEST FILM, “SEND HELP.” CINEMA JUNKIE BETH ACCOMANDO SAYS IT IS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN EMPLOYEE AND HER ABUSIVE BOSS GET STRANDED ON A DESERTED ISLAND.
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Send up a flare! Sam Raimi’s back making horror.
CLIP Scream
Send Help is his first horror feature since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell. Raimi says he liked the what if premise of turning the tables on your abusive boss.
CLIP As an executive I see no value in you.
SAM RAIMI So many people can relate to a lot of the aspects of it that I think it's a great thing to experience with others.
Which is why he says you need to see it in a theater where you can cheer on Rachel McAdam’s smart and underappreciated employee, Linda Liddle.
CLIP Let's not forget, I'm your boss. You work for me… We're not in the office anymore, Bradley.
SAM RAIMI She knows how to survive in the wild. It's her hobby. He knows nothing about real leadership or self-management. He's a coward and a weakling, and he still tries to be boss. But finally, the truth comes out of who's responsible, who's capable in the real world, and who's not.
Since it’s Raimi at the helm, it’s horror by way of the 3 stooges. And I’ll dare to suggest that Send Help is Raimi’s wacky, darkly comic take on 1930s screwball rom-coms – just with more blood and a body count. It’s so good to have Raimi back in the horror genre.
Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
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THAT’S IT FOR THE PODCAST TODAY. AS ALWAYS YOU CAN FIND MORE SAN DIEGO NEWS ONLINE AT KPBS DOT ORG. I’M DEBBIE CRUZ. THANKS FOR LISTENING AND HAVE A GREAT DAY!
