FRONTLINE

>> Trump has promised to conduct what he calls "the largest deportation program in American history."

>> We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.

>> NARRATOR: In collaboration with ProPublica, >> Bovino was deployed to several cities.

>> He was the one who was the tip of the spear for this new type of immigration enforcement across the country.

>> When we talk about who theyre arresting and who they're holding accountable, its not the worst of the worst.

>> NARRATOR: From Los Angeles... >> Hundreds of National Guard Troops >> NARRATOR: To Chicago... >> Operation Midway Blitz.

>> NARRATOR: To Minneapolis.

>> The White House today doubling down.

>> NARRATOR: The pushback on protest... >> Trying to terrify people and try to scare people away.

>> Border patrol agents, they don't wake up in the morning and say, "let me see who I can hurt today."

>> NARRATOR: And the fallout.

>> President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made.

>> Now on FRONTLINE, Caught in the Crackdown. >> The Trump administration is deploying an estimated 2,000 federal agents to Minneapolis.

That includes ICE agents.

>> Homeland Security posted on social media this afternoon, "We're not leaving until the problem is solved."

(car horns honking) >> Go home to Texas, (bleep).

>> A.C.

THOMPSON: January 7, 2026.

(whistle blowing) (car horns honking, sirens blaring) A month into the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration in Minneapolis, federal officers approached an activist named Renee Good as she sat in her car.

>> That's fine, dude, I'm not mad at you.

You wanna come at us?

I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy, go ahead.

>> Get out of the car.

>> Get out the (bleep) car.

>> (shouting): No!

No!

Shame!

(gun firing) (screaming): Shame!

Oh my (bleep) God!

>> (panicked shouting) >> What the (bleep)?

What the (bleep)?!

You just (bleep)-- what the (bleep) did you do?

(camera clicks) >> THOMPSON: The killing of Renee Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross stunned the country.

>> What did you do?

You!

Shame.

Shame!

>> Hey, call 911!

>> Shame!

Shame!

>> We are following a breaking news situation in south Minneapolis, a shooting involving ICE agents.

>> We have just learnt the victim's name.

She is a 37-year-old woman, and her name is Renee Nicole Good.

She was shot and killed today, and ICE claims that the agent opened fire after Good "weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill a federal officer."

>> THOMPSON: In the days afterwards, I spoke to eyewitnesses and visited the site where Good was killed.

>> Mother of three, a partner, and a poet-- 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good as described by those who knew her.

Her neighbors now mourning their loss.

>> THOMPSON: Like many here, Good had been out on the streets opposing the immigration sweeps.

>> Yeah, I just started filming, because I saw her body on the ground.

>> THOMPSON: A few blocks away, I met Liliana Zaragoza, who showed me video she'd taken the morning of the shooting.

(video playing on phone) She was on her way home after dropping off her kids.

>> I opened my door, and I exited with my hands up.

And I looked at one of the MPD officers, right, and I said, "I'm an attorney... "what-- you know, what's going on?

"Is this an ICE operation?

"Is it an MPD operation?

Is it something else?"

And he said, "This is a crime scene now."

>> You can see her right now.

>> And so when I get into my car, you know, I just grabbed my phone and started recording, and I saw on the sidewalk a bloody person, bloodied head.

I'm looking at her eyes.

I'm looking at her body.

And it was just a really horrific, violent thing to see.

>> THOMPSON: And... for activists like you... >> Mm-hmm.

>> THOMPSON: What does her death mean?

>> (inhales) You know, I think it hits close to home for a lot of us who've been responding to these ICE raids.

It, frankly, you know-- I, I was there, responding, like Renee Good was responding.

>> THOMPSON: That was what you were doing.

>> Yes.

>> THOMPSON: She was doing the same thing... >> Yes, mm-hmm.

>> THOMPSON: And she wound up dead.

>> Yes, exactly.

>> That woman was there... >> THOMPSON: The Trump administration depicted Good as part of an extremist left-wing movement.

>> That woman has-- is part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.

>> THOMPSON: And the man the administration put in charge of the operation, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, defended the officer who killed her.

>> A 4,000-pound missile is not something anyone wants to face, especially in a split-second decision-making process in a very in... already inhospitable environment.

Hats off to that ICE agent.

I'm glad he made it out alive, I'm glad he's with his family.

>> THOMPSON: By the time Renee Good was killed, >> Bovino is in the gold suburban.

>> THOMPSON: I'd been following Bovino and the Trump administration's immigration sweeps around the country for seven months.

>> You speak English?

>> (inaudible) >> THOMPSON: Thousands had been arrested on immigration charges.

>> Do me a favor, just stay back, okay?

>> THOMPSON: What is your mission today, like, if you were going to describe it for PBS?

>> Title 8 immigration enforcement, so, that's what we're here for, and all these bad people and bad things you see on the street that prey on American citizens, we're here to get 'em.

(protesters shouting) >> THOMPSON: But there was also a backlash.

>> Better be careful.

A lot violence.

Be careful.

>> THOMPSON: Are you encountering a lot of, a lot of resistance?

>> Most I've ever seen.

>> THOMPSON: Really?

>> You bet.

>> THOMPSON: Amid the protests, the masked and heavily armed federal agents-- sometimes backed by the military-- had also arrested hundreds of U.S.

citizens, routinely portraying them as domestic terrorists or extremists.

>> Like, who do you think you're dealing with?

Like, I'm not like Rambo or anything.

(scoffs) >> THOMPSON: With my colleagues at ProPublica and FRONTLINE, we've interviewed officials, experts, and insiders... When you talk to agents who've been dispatched for these big operations, what do they tell you?

>> They say it's, it's a horrific situation, and they've been put in very dangerous positions.

(protesters shouting) >> So, I've definitely seen a lot of violent acts instilled onto the agents by the protesters.

>> Shame on you.

>> Hey, let go!

>> THOMPSON: And we analyzed the arrests of more than 300 protestors and bystanders caught in the crackdown.

>> How could you do this?

>> THOMPSON: Why did you stop and question him?

>> Please get out of here, sir.

>> Get back, get back, get back.

>> THOMPSON: While there have been some successful prosecutions, over and over cases have been falling apart, contradicted by video evidence and witness testimony.

>> THOMPSON: Do you have video of it?

>> Right here.

(indistinct shouting on video) >> THOMPSON: And that's you getting it?

>> Yep.

>> THOMPSON: Federal prosecutors have been dismissing charges or not filing them at all.

>> So the cases collapsed.

These things are not resulting in any real prosecution.

(protesters chanting) >> THOMPSON: And in cities across the country, countless people have been injured-- and some even killed-- by officers using tactics that experts say violate their own rules.

>> (man wailing) >> People live here.

>> You're not allowed to use less lethal weapons in that way.

You're not allowed to fire at people's heads.

>> The agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted.

Fearing for his life, a Border Patrol Agent fired defensive shots.

>> (on video): Holy (bleep)!

Oh, my God!

>> What do we want?

>> ICE out!

>> When do we want it?

>> Now!

>> THOMPSON: By February, amid rising opposition around the country... >> ICE out!

ICE out!

>> THOMPSON: ...the Trump administration began backing off its campaign, and the man at the center of it, Greg Bovino... >> Stay back.

>> THOMPSON: ...was out.

>> Reports of a surge in raids of undocumented residents have been circulating on social media.

>> THOMPSON: The roots of the story trace back to January 2025.

>> Mira, mira.

>> THOMPSON: ...and a little-known operation that Bovino led in Bakersfield, California.

>> Yeah, regular, undercovers, everything.

>> THOMPSON: It was called "Return to Sender."

>> They were just rolling around the city like it was theirs.

As if they were right, you know, in the El Centro border.

>> THOMPSON: Journalist Sergio Olmos reported on it for the nonprofit news outlets CalMatters and Evident Media.

>> Greg Bovino, who was then the sector chief for El Centro, sent out about 65 agents 300 miles north of his sector into the interior of California to do this operation, that they said at the time, they had a targeted list of criminals they were going after.

>> Fools came in deep on a Home Depot lot, helicopter and all.

>> But Greg Bovino's crew would go up to Home Depots, gas stations... >> Have a nice day, sir.

>> ...farmland... >> La migra, gey!

>> You know, looking at people who look Latino, and stopping them and asking, "Show me your papers."

>> Y aqui la patrulla frontera, pues, que a mi me imagino pidiendole lo respectivos documentos a las personas.

>> THOMPSON: Bovino agreed to talk to Olmos about the operation.

>> Every single one of the 78 that we arrested were criminals, when you cross the border illegally, 8 U.S.C.

1325, illegal entry in the United States.

So they were all criminals, let's get that one out of the way here, um, right out of the box.

>> You're under arrest right now for alien smuggling.

Actual federal felony.

>> If they cross the border illegally, then they're coming with us.

They are under arrest and they're coming with us.

>> Put your phone down.

(phone mic audio muffled) >> They said that they were looking after-- going after criminals.

That was what they promoted it as.

>> THOMPSON: And what was the reality?

>> We got documents from Customs and Border Protection that showed that 77 out of the 78 people they arrested, they had no knowledge of criminal or immigration history prior to encountering them.

All that means is they didn't know who these people were when they, when they arrested them.

The idea of a target enforcement where traditionally someone like ICE, an agency like ICE would find out if somebody has a criminal record, they'd surveil their house, they'd check to see if they had been deported before, that whole, like, pre-investigation stuff, that doesn't happen when, you know, guys on Border Patrol just roll up to Home Depot in Kevlar and mask and see who runs.

>> That's (bleep) up what you guys are doing.

>> And this operation in Bakersfield, we saw as a kind of, like, test case for how he could use Border Patrol in the interior.

(train clanging) >> Yesterday's catch from Indio is being brought in by the Border Patrol.

>> THOMPSON: In fact, Return to Sender was a throwback to a campaign from the 1950s.

>> Greg Bovino told congressional investigators a couple years earlier, his model for immigration was President Eisenhower.

That he really knew how to do interior enforcement.

And I had to look this up, because I didn't know what he was talking about, but it was Operation Wetback.

>> This is the morning prison train.

Its cargo?

Mexican wetbacks, who have sneaked across the border and are being deported.

>> THOMPSON: The operation, which took its name from a racial slur, started on the border, but eventually extended to major cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.

(camera clicks) >> Bovino really looks at Operation Wetback as, like, the way that Border Patrol should be used.

They should not just be lined up on the border watching a wall.

They should be in cities setting up checkpoints, and just stopping people.

>> They got this guy pulled over here, INS.

>> And treating every town as if it's right across the border.

>> We made contact with and arrested a lot of bad people.

>> THOMPSON: In the interview with Olmos in early 2025, Bovino said the Border Patrol would be taking an aggressive approach going forward.

>> Over the next several years, we're gonna go hard.

Whether you're an illegal alien, a fentanyl smuggler, or any other type of transnational criminal threat, I'd self-deport right now.

Just go ahead and self-deport, because the green team is on the job and it's game on.

Game on with the green team.

>> Federal authorities have been reported at several locations in Los Angeles.

>> THOMPSON: Five months after Operation Return to Sender, the Trump administration deployed Greg Bovino to Los Angeles.

>> This was at a Home Depot in Westlake, it was earlier this morning.

Homeland Security agents were detaining multiple people outside that... >> THOMPSON: He would be a key player in carrying out the president's immigration crackdown.

>> Widespread immigration raids here in L.A.

>> Federal officials have detained multiple people at different locations.

>> THOMPSON: I arrived in L.A.

as dozens of people a day were being swept up in raids by the Border Patrol, ICE, and other federal agencies.

>> 15-year-old Brian Vasquez screaming at Border Patrol agents as they take his father into custody.

>> (screaming): Papi!

>> THOMPSON: Angry residents were also coming out to confront the agents... >> You've got no jurisdiction here.

>> ICE out of L.A.!

(popping, hissing) >> They're spraying gas!

>> THOMPSON: And protests were erupting.

>> Whose street?

>> (chanting): Our street!

>> Whose street?

>> Our street!

>> Yeah, I believe most, most... They, they certainly are, and they're slowly making their way out of here.

>> All right, you guys, this is at Paramount on Atlantic.

>> THOMPSON: On June 7, hundreds of protestors gathered near a Border Patrol staging area.

>> They're gonna start charging at us right now, but I don't know.

Hey, you guys theres more of us than theres them, come on!

>> THOMPSON: Bovino told his agents how to handle the protestors.

>> Arrest as many people that touch you as you want to.

Those are the general orders, all the way to the top.

Everybody (bleep) gets it if they touch you.

You hear what I'm saying?

>> Yes, sir.

>> Less lethals?

We're gonna look at shipping tractor trailer-loads of that (bleep) in here.

So, you catch what I'm... Its all about us now, it ain't about them.

Professional, legal, ethical and moral.

You know what we're talking about.

Legal, ethical, moral.

You're on camera!

But other than that?

It's what we do.

>> Whose city is it, chief?

>> It's (bleep) ours-- it's our (bleep) city.

(gas cannisters firing) (crowd shouting) >> What did the community do?

>> THOMPSON: As the federal agents faced off against the demonstrators, they began unleashing tear gas and other crowd control weapons.

(car horns honking, cannisters exploding) (booming, thudding) >> THOMPSON: The protests escalated.

(crowd shouting) (clattering) (high-pitched screeching, banging) >> What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order, and our national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country.

We're not gonna let that happen.

>> Whose streets?

>> (chanting): Our streets!

>> Whose streets?

>> Our streets!

(distant): >> Whose streets?

>> THOMPSON: President Trump would quickly mobilize the National Guard.

Extraordinary images out of Los Angeles tonight.

Hundreds of National Guard Troops, now on the ground deployed by President Trump, even though state leaders say they didn't ask for them and don't want them there.

>> (chanting): National Guard out of L.A.

>> National Guard out of L.A.!

>> THOMPSON: The administration cited vandalism and attacks on agents.

>> What we have seen transpire in Los Angeles, California, in recent days is shameful.

Left-wing radicals waving foreign flags viciously attacked ICE and Border Patrol agents, as well as Los Angeles police officers.

The mob violence is being stomped out.

The criminals responsible will be swiftly brought to justice, and the Trump administration's operations to arrest illegal aliens are continuing unabated.

(camera clicks) >> THOMPSON: On the ground, Bovino defended the operation.

>> As for the violence and the demonstrators... Violence will not deter us, the CBP mission here in Los Angeles.

(applause) >> We know how to bring about peace.

And peace begins with ICE leaving Los Angeles.

(applause) >> THOMPSON: Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass told me she was caught off-guard by what happened.

>> Well, I will tell you, when the first raids happened, it felt like, as a city, we just got punched in the gut for no reason.

It just came out of nowhere.

And it was a feeling of, like, the city being invaded but it was an invasion of our own government against us.

(sirens wailing, woman gasping) (indistinct radio chatter) >> You had men jumping out of cars with rifles... >> They're going to come to attack us, look.

>> (crying): Where are you taking me?

>> ...with very dubious signage or uniforms.

(indistinct chatter) Everybody was, um, horrified and outraged by the aggression.

>> THOMPSON: It was becoming clear that this wasn't just an immigration operation.

It was evolving into something different.

The federal government was also cracking down on demonstrators, and arresting them in large numbers.

One of those arrests-- down the street from a corner store in East L.A.-- caught my attention.

Hi.

Can we see the footage?

The video?

>> Yes, yes.

Yeah.

>> THOMPSON: So this is the, from the raid this morning, and this looks like National Guard troops, eight to 12 of them, pulling up in two vans, at about 5:52 in the morning.

They put a cordon across the street, and they're blocking the street.

And then our understanding is behind that, they're arresting somebody who was involved in the protest.

The FBI is arresting them.

(voiceover): The man they arrested was Alejandro Orellana, a Marine Corps veteran who was part of a group that had been protesting the raids.

>> It was like almost exactly at 6:00 in the morning.

Suddenly, I hear, like, a man over a loudspeaker call my name, telling me that, um, it's the FBI and that I need to come outside.

They already have, like, their guns out.

They throw the flashbangs in, and they still break down the front door.

And they detained my family for like an hour.

But, you know, I think to them, it's like, "Well, this guy is former military, so, like, he has the training to, like, evade us," or whatever.

There was, like, over, like, more than two dozen, like, National Guardsmen just like lined up on my street as they were driving me off.

It's, like, who do you think you're dealing with?

Like, I'm not like Rambo or anything.

(scoffs) >> Lots of people wearing masks just in case there is more clashes with police tonight... >> THOMPSON: It all stemmed from a news video in the early days of the protests.

>> We have people right now, look at this, dropping off food and water... >> What are those boxes?

>> Are those masks?

>> That doesn't look like food and water.

>> Yeah, those are... >> It looks like masks.

>> Yeah, no, those are masks.

>> A bunch of us, um, took it upon ourselves to... you know, go downtown and give out these resources-- the food, water, and of course the PPE.

>> You probably don't put on a mask unless you have a plan of not wanting somebody to see your face.

>> THOMPSON: Orellana was soon identified as the driver of the truck.

>> Americans have to get organized.

>> THOMPSON: ...and targeted by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

>> You saw the man handing out the thousands of dollars of face shields... >> THOMPSON: ...and then by the Trump administration.

>> You will see boxes and boxes of very professionalized masks and rioting equipment being dropped off for these protesters.

So, it's a good question the president is raising, and one we are looking into about who is funding these insurrectionists and these rioters and these protesters and these illegal criminals.

>> They're (bleep) kidnapping people.

ICE, National Guard, la misma (bleep).

>> THOMPSON: The morning after the press conference, Orellana was arrested on charges including conspiracy-- a charge often used for organized crime rings and drug syndicates.

The acting U.S.

attorney, Bill Essayli, was on the scene, promoting the raid to a Fox News crew that had been given exclusive access.

>> We have made it a huge priority to try and identify, locate, and arrest those who are involved in organizing, supporting, funding, uh, or facilitating these riots that they're going on.

>> THOMPSON: Neither Essayli nor anyone from the Trump administration would talk to us about Orellana's arrest or the overall operation in L.A.

Six weeks later, the charges against Orellana were dropped, without any public explanation.

>> One of the reasons why I feel like they dropped the case is because they looked at the case-- they took a hard look, and especially like these more experienced prosecutors, were able to convince Bill Essayli that, you know... >> THOMPSON: The U.S.

attorney.

>> ...you're not going to win.

Like, it's a ridiculous case.

Like, masks?

They're not even... like you can't assault someone with a mask.

>> THOMPSON: And your feeling is you were targeted why?

>> I mean, it's not just my feeling, you know.

It's not because of the masks, it's because you're an activist.

>> THOMPSON: One of the cases we're looking into involves Alejandro Orellana.

>> Yes.

>> THOMPSON: I sat down with Cuauhtmoc Ortega, the chief federal defender for Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.

He represented Orellana.

The acting U.S.

attorney here, Bill Essayli, seemed to portray your client as like a kingpin of this vast conspiracy to foment riots.

What did you think of those statements?

>> I thought they were pretty inaccurate.

Uh, my client, our investigation, and our trial defense would've shown that our client didn't engage in anything of that sort, that this whole situation was blown completely out of proportion, and there was no conspiracy.

And I think that we would have succeeded at trial, and my guess is that's why the case was dismissed.

>> THOMPSON: We looked at 116 cases in California like Orellana's-- U.S.

citizens who were arrested in protests.

Or bystanders who'd been observing the immigration agents.

Many of those cases are still ongoing-- and to be sure, some defendants have been convicted of violent crimes.

But more than 40 cases have fallen apart, with prosecutors dropping charges or juries acquitting defendants.

Ortega's office has represented the defendants in most of those cases.

>> Cases started getting dismissed or started getting reduced to misdemeanors.

That was very confusing for us at the beginning, because we would read the press statements, we'd see the social media posts, and we were expecting a case that was serious, and then we would get the evidence, we would review it, and we would see something else.

>> THOMPSON: Had you seen something like that before?

>> No, this is very unusual, to have a complaint filed where there's factual ambiguities that eventually result in, in problems for the government's case.

That's, that's not common.

>> THOMPSON: Greg Bovino would continue leading immigration operations in L.A.

through the summer.

>> We're here making Los Angeles a safer place.

>> If you've been in policing as I have for many years, you come to realize that protests, civil disorder of various kinds, are, are part of the territory that you have to deal with.

>> THOMPSON: Chris Magnus oversaw Bovino when he was the head of Customs and Border Protection during the Biden administration.

>> He's one of those guys that I sort of learned as a chief there, you go into a room and there's always somebody, like, the provocateur, the guy that's not afraid to ask the tough questions, to take the chief on.

In the Border Patrol sector chief meetings, he... he was that guy.

>> THOMPSON: He told me he was concerned that Bovino and his forces were actually instigating some of the unrest in L.A.

>> I think there's evidence of that, clearly, in terms of some of the videos he made and some of the ways he, you know, um, ginned up his troops.

And they were treated like troops.

I shouldn't even-- you know, it's sad that I would even refer to them in that way.

There are always some protesters in any group that take it too far that probably will need to be arrested.

But the smart thing to do is you have a specific group of officers who are trained to be able to go into a crowd and extract those individuals, but to do it in a way that doesn't inflame the entire group.

>> THOMPSON: But by September, tensions were only rising.

>> We're just getting this news... >> Conservative activist... >> Charlie Kirk... >> Has been shot.

>> Wow, this is unbelievable, pray for him right now.

>> Enough is enough.

>> THOMPSON: The killing of Charlie Kirk prompted a wave of harsh rhetoric from the Trump administration.

>> We have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement... >> Left-wing radicals, and they will be held accountable... >> And it must stop right now.

>> THOMPSON: And it would set the tone as the administration's immigration sweeps moved on to a new city: Chicago.

>> The Department of Homeland Security says it has begun Operation Midway Blitz, targeting Chicago and the state of Illinois.

>> Governor Pritzker estimates some 200 ICE agents and 100 vehicles are positioned in and around the city of Chicago.

(car horns honking) (honking continues, people shouting) >> Hey, you speak English?

>> (speaks indistinctly) >> How long have you been in United States, sir?

>> 35, 35 years.

35 years.

>> 35 years?

>> Yeah.

(car horns honking, distant shouting) >> Get the (bleep) out!

Get out of here!

(bleep) you!

(car horns honking) >> Thank you.

>> THOMPSON: Did you guys just roll up on the first Asian dude you saw?

>> Yeah.

Stop (bleep) kidnapping people!

(honking) >> THOMPSON: As in L.A... >> (Bleep) ICE!

(Bleep) Trump!

>> THOMPSON: ...agents met fierce resistance here.

>> Yeah, gotta cover your face!

>> What about you, you have your documents?

Is it a copy of it, or what?

>> Bovino!

He's here!

>> Bovino, whatever his name is.

You're a (bleep)!

>> THOMPSON: Greg Bovino had been given a new title-- Commander at Large for Immigration Operations.

>> Have long have you, uh, done the concrete?

>> Uh, eight years.

>> Eight years?

Wow.

>> Yes.

>> I can tell you do a good job.

I wish I could write my name in the cement there.

(chuckles) >> THOMPSON: I wanted to interview Bovino about what I'd been seeing here in Chicago and in L.A.

Hi, Commander, can you tell us anything about what's going on today?

We're with PBS.

>> Just, it's called Title 8 Immigration Enforcement.

>> THOMPSON: Okay, are you just stopping people who are doing yardwork or...?

>> Uh, Title 8 Immigration Enforcement.

>> THOMPSON: Okay >> C4?

These are good.

Thank you, that'll do.

>> Hey, thank you sir.

>> Have a good one.

>> Appreciate you, you have a good day.

>> THOMPSON: Hey, Commander, we'd love to arrange an interview for PBS, what's the best way to do that?

>> Yeah, if you notify our public affairs officer.

What's your name again?

>> THOMPSON: It's A.C.

Thompson.

>> A.C.

Thompson... >> THOMPSON: I would keep trying to get an interview with him and others at the agency.

>> Border patrol agents, they don't wake up in the morning and say, "Let me see who I can hurt today."

>> THOMPSON: I was able to speak to Art Del Cueto, a retired Border Patrol agent and former spokesman for the Border Patrol union.

The kind of thing we're seeing is, you know, we're following the convoy of Border Patrol agents, and they're stopping at the person doing landscaping, then they're stopping at the person doing construction work on a house.

Then they're rolling through a strip mall, and the first person they see who's not white ends up in a vehicle.

And I think that's the thing that a lot of Americans find concerning.

>> Well, I mean, they're, they're arresting it based on intel that they have.

You're not going to go into, you know, a lawyer or attorney building and start, you know, "Hey, maybe these guys" because you know they've, actually, they have a status.

You know, you go into areas where you realize that, you know whatever crime you're looking for, that's the area of higher volume of those types of criminals.

But I just, I don't see it as, "Hey, they're arresting brown people."

It's... and I, and I think a lot of it gets overhyped.

Nobody wants to focus on, "No, we're arresting individuals because they've committed a crime," or "We're arresting individuals because they've circumvented immigration law."

>> THOMPSON: Del Cueto now works for a group that advocates for mass deportation.

He told me he'd been in touch with agents in L.A.

and Chicago.

>> Many of them said, "Look, there was times we were in neighborhoods and we were surrounded."

I spoke to one agent that said, you know, "Our, our vehicles, the tires were destroyed.

"There was so much chaos that when we came back "into our vehicles to leave, "the partner that I had in my group on the passenger, he was no longer there."

>> Here in Broadview, we have had huge crowds of protesters coming out every Friday for the past month.

>> (chanting): The people united will never be defeated.

>> THOMPSON: The Chicago suburb of Broadview was the site of some of the most intense protests against the immigration sweeps.

>> We're here protecting them.

You know this (bleep) wrong.

You know it's wrong.

>> THOMPSON: On the morning of October 3, about 200 demonstrators gathered in front of an immigration processing center.

>> Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the ICE processing center this morning.

>> THOMPSON: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was on the scene, accompanied by her own video team.

>> I just wanted to show everybody exactly how nice it is out here.

>> THOMPSON: As was Benny Johnson, a pro-Trump influencer showcasing the operation.

>> You look at these protesters out here, they don't care about America, they don't care about freedom, they don't care about what this country is and how special it is.

Well, we're gonna remind them today... (protestors chanting) >> THOMPSON: Johnson showed Bovino preparing to confront the angry crowd.

>> That crowd there is an unsafe crowd, on either side, they're gonna... we're gonna roll them all the way outta here.

And when they resist, what happens?

>> They get arrested.

>> They get arrested.

>> (chanting): Who do you protect?

Who do you serve?

(protestors shouting) >> For me, as an elected official, it was important for me to be present, to witness what's happening.

>> THOMPSON: Juan Muoz came to the protest from a neighboring suburb.

Tell me about October 3, take, take me through what happened that day.

>> Yeah, so, federal agents started to gather near the fence and started marching towards the protesters.

>> (Bleep) you, Greg Bovino!

You're the scum of the earth!

>> The Illinois State Police were kind of maintaining us in the free speech zone in which we were allowed to be.

>> THOMPSON: Kyle Frankovich was a protestor in the crowd that day.

>> Get the (bleep) out of our state, you guys are scum!

>> Gregory Bovino, he's in charge of the facility there.

He started to yell at the crowd, saying "We're gonna clear you out."

>> Hey, listen, you've got one warning, one warning only.

This is an unlawful assembly.

Everybody will move down the block and to the right, or you're going to be arrested.

>> And as soon as he turned back to his own agents, and he said "Okay, start to arrest them."

>> He is threatening to arrest everybody if we don't move, it's happening right now.

>> They start pushing people off of where Illinois State Police had told us, like, "You can be here."

>> THOMPSON: Cole Sheridan was also there, seen in footage wearing a white bike helmet.

>> They start yelling at us, "Move back, move back or you'll get arrested."

>> And people started to move back, but that's when they started to grab folks from the crowd.

(crowd clamoring) >> Hey!

Let go!

(people shouting) >> I was holding my phone and had my hands up, there was no aggression, but I felt somebody be taken down behind me.

>> He wasn't doing (bleep)!

>> I tried to sidestep it and as soon as I moved to the side, I felt somebody grab my shoulder and pull me to the ground.

>> You guys are a bunch of fascists, what the (bleep)?

>> And once I fell onto my back, that's when I saw it was Greg Bovino, and he told me, "Turn over on your stomach, you're under arrest."

(camera clicking) And as I was turning, I was telling him and whoever, you know, he told to arrest me, that I was an elected official.

And, you know, that met with no response and they took me away into the, into the parking lot.

>> Quit your job!

>> There are people behind me, I can't move back, they're pushing me.

>> Move back!

>> There's people behind me.

(voiceover): Then I see the person next to me get grabbed and pulled down.

I try to pick him up.

I get pushed over by two agents, end up on top of this person.

I have to kind of push myself up to let him out from under me, but there's already two or three agents on top of me at this point.

And they have their knee on my back.

They're screaming at me, "Stop resisting, stop resisting."

They pick me up.

On my left arm, I'm being held by this very worked-up agent who immediately starts shaking me by the arm and saying, "Stop resisting, stop resisting."

The agent on my other arm barks at this guy like, "Hey, you gotta calm down."

>> THOMPSON: Not long after Cole Sheridan, Kyle Frankovich was also arrested.

>> (chanting): Let him go!

>> They violently grabbed my arms behind my back, zip-tied me, and then started marching me to where they were putting the other dozen or so of us who were arrested that day.

>> I'm asking, "Who's detaining me?

What am I being detained for?"

Eventually, supervisor comes up and says, "Well, you, you attacked Greg Bovino."

And I was like, "Who is that?"

She said, "Well, he's the head of Border Patrol."

>> Did you think that you were doing anything that would lead to your arrest when you got grabbed?

>> No.

No.

I don't know if I've ever experienced something... ...truly that bizarre and absurd, as like seeing... ...a law enforcement agent concoct a narrative to arrest me, to press charges against me.

And that was extremely unnerving.

>> These are exactly the kind of people that we want to be pissing off.

>> THOMPSON: From the scene, Benny Johnson touted the arrests to his millions of followers.

>> Probably about a dozen left-wing terrorists, arrested for attacking police officers and ICE officers.

These individuals assaulted ICE officers... >> Benny Johnson was embedded with ICE, he was filming and recording and streaming that day, and I can directly be seen in the video along with everybody else I was detained with, as he describes us as being violent extremists who had assaulted federal officers.

He made similar statements on his Twitter account as well, with that video being shown with the posts.

>> THOMPSON: Of the 12 people arrested and shown in the video, only one was charged: Cole Sheridan.

He was held for four days for allegedly assaulting Bovino.

But prosecutors dropped the case after video contradicted the claims.

If there hadn't been a bunch of cameras there, Benny Johnson, the right-wing influencer, Secretary Noem, if they hadn't been there, do you think you would've been arrested?

>> It seems unlikely given... ...how truly, uh, weak their case was.

I would kind of imagine that a huge part of it was publicity, another part of it was trying to terrify people and try to scare people away from protesting, speaking their mind.

>> They're trying to stop us from protesting!

>> THOMPSON: Over the course of a month in the Chicago area, we found more than a hundred people who'd been arrested as they participated in demonstrations or documented the immigration raids.

Like in L.A., a majority of the cases have been falling apart with prosecutors dropping charges in at least 75 cases so far.

In a statement, the U.S.

Attorney's Office said that nearly all the cases were "reactive arrests made by law enforcement in the field."

And they said their willingness to be open-minded and dismiss cases reflected a commitment to do the right thing-- even when a crime was committed.

>> They are saying things happened when they didn't happen, and then hoping that prosecutors will, will, you know, move forward on those charges.

And for the most part, prosecutors are not, I think in part because you have more video footage available than you did in the past.

And in part because prosecutors are aware that juries are not as quick to defer to federal law enforcement as they used to be.

>> (on video): Watch out, watch out!

>> Get back, get back!

>> THOMPSON: Christy Lopez spent years investigating law enforcement misconduct for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

We showed her footage of the protests and arrests at Broadview.

>> One of the things I think is how much like a war zone those places look, and they don't need to be.

These are people protesting an ICE facility.

They don't have weapons.

They are-- there aren't that many of them.

They appear to be peacefully protesting.

Some civil disobedience, sometimes, but very mild.

Most a... departments have handled protests like this have gone on for weeks, sometimes months, without that level of militaristic response.

There is no threat in most of these instances.

And you're using force that is at best possibly lethal to, you know, force that can be quite likely lethal.

>> (chanting): Lock him up!

Lock him up!

>> THOMPSON: Bovino later spoke about the arrests at Broadview in a deposition for a federal lawsuit against him and DHS.

>> I believe that all uses of force that I've seen and all arrests that I have seen have been more than exemplary.

>> THOMPSON: The federal judge in that case admonished Bovino and his agents for how they were operating, and ordered limits on their use of tear gas and other weapons unless under imminent physical threat.

>> Yeah, Bovino, he was right there, and then... >> THOMPSON: Enrique Bahena was a witness in the case.

>> They're the ones violent.

They're the ones shooting tear gas into communities.

They're the ones shooting pepper balls.

>> THOMPSON: He was filming immigration agents from his bike two weeks after the court order came down.

>> There's like ten cars of them, they're all right there.

The day that I got the pepper ball to the neck, everyone was just telling them to get out.

>> THOMPSON: Do you have video of it?

>> It's right here.

(video playing) >> THOMPSON: Was anybody throwing stuff at them?

Was anybody hitting them with anything?

>> Nope, not at all.

Everyone was just telling them to leave.

>> THOMPSON: That's you, and that's you getting it.

>> Yep.

>> THOMPSON: And are you yelling anything or saying anything right there?

You're just filming it?

>> No, I didn't say a single word.

>> THOMPSON: You have your Meta glasses on.

>> Yup.

>> THOMPSON: The court order was eventually overturned and the restrictions lifted.

The Border Patrol still wasn't granting me an interview, but as the operations were getting more violent, a source within DHS agreed to talk if we concealed their identity.

>> I think it's important the public knows that there's people out there who are also outraged at the operations being conducted, the way that agents, officers are behaving and conducting business.

You know, you know you're in the wrong when thousands, hundreds, you know, people are coming out and yelling at you.

I don't even tell people who I work for anymore, because I'm ashamed of that.

>> THOMPSON: And do you think there's more people that feel the way you do?

>> Uh, I know there is, at least a few for sure.

>> THOMPSON: Do you think we're gonna end up seeing any of these agents who may have engaged in misconduct held accountable?

>> No.

I don't, not in this current administration.

>> Hundreds of protests are underway or planned nationwide today in response to the deadly Minneapolis shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent.

>> THOMPSON: So we're in Minneapolis.

It's a few days after federal agents shot Renee Good.

We're hearing that there's going to be more federal agents coming to town, like, a thousand-- that's what the news is saying-- and trying to figure out what this is all gonna to look like.

We gotta get out!

>> Okay.

(car horns honking) >> THOMPSON: Daily confrontations were going on between protestors and immigration agents.

(car horns blaring) >> Murderers!

Remember that you are murderers!

>> The White House today doubling down on their support for the operations... >> Go home (bleep) cowards!

(whistles blowing) (shouting continues) >> THOMPSON: We were reporting in the neighborhood where Renee Good had been killed.

(indistinct talking) >> Go home!

>> We don't need gas masks and more guns.

>> What is that about?

>> THOMPSON: Agents were surrounding and questioning a man.

(indistinct chatter, whistles blowing) >> Take your guns home!

We don't want guns in our neighborhoods!

>> We don't need that (bleep) hardware, it's ridiculous.

>> THOMPSON: People were coming out of their houses... >> Get the (bleep) out!

You don't belong here!

>> THOMPSON: The agents started to leave.

>> Get the (bleep) out of here!

Move out, you heard them.

>> Bye!

(sirens blaring) >> THOMPSON: One protestor was pepper sprayed in the face at close range.

(whistles blowing) >> That's not necessary... You're (bleep) wrecking cars.

Get the (bleep) out of here!

>> THOMPSON: I spoke with the man they were questioning, Christian Molina.

He said the officers had rammed his vehicle.

>> They hit my car for no reason, man.

They hit me.

>> What happened?

>> They followed me for no reason and hit my car.

They looked at me and they decided to pull me over for no reason.

You believe that?

>> THOMPSON: That Ford SUV?

>> Yup.

I'm a, I'm a U.S.

citizen.

>> THOMPSON: Suddenly... Oh here, careful.

>> Move back!

>> THOMPSON: ...someone threw a snowball in the direction of the agents.

>> Move back!

(whistling, shouting) (indistinct chatter) >> THOMPSON: One of them tossed a tear gas canister into the crowd.

>> Watch out!

Watch out!

(shouting continues) >> You're tear gassing a (bleep) neighborhood!

>> It's peaceful!

>> People live here!

(whistling) (loud clattering) >> Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Why?

>> Back it up!

>> THOMPSON: An agent pepper sprayed protesters and a news photographer up close.

Another fired pepper balls into the crowd.

(firing) I was hit three times.

(on camera): I got shot repeatedly with pepper balls.

>> Fix your hat.

>> Get the (bleep) out!

>> This isn't a (bleep) war zone!

This is our (bleep) neighborhood!

>> I was in the car and they threw the (bleep) underneath the (bleep) car Yes!

>> I can't see.

>> Shame on you!

Hey!

(Bleep) you!

>> Ah!

(Bleep)!

I need help!

>> Get water!

>> THOMPSON: As they left, an agent shot pepper spray from his window.

(siren blaring) (woman screams) It hit my colleagues in the face.

You, you need this?

>> Yes.

>> Here, give me the camera.

Give me the... >> Water?

>> I got water!

>> Water?

>> Anybody need an eye wash?

>> Was that spray?

Did they just spray from a moving van?

>> THOMPSON: In the months I'd been covering this story, I'd seen the same pattern everywhere we went: federal agents using weapons like tear gas and pepper spray against protestors and bystanders.

The courts would try to reign them in, but they'd move on to the next city and do the same things.

>> (Bleep) (coughs) >> THOMPSON: On local TV, Bovino was unapologetic.

>> We're here to conduct that Title 8 mission.

It won't stop despite rioters, agitators, and vast amounts of violence against federal officers.

We're not going to stop.

>> THOMPSON: I showed footage from the scene to Christy Lopez.

>> You're tear-gassing a (bleep) neighborhood!

>> It's peaceful!

>> People live here!

>> We see just use of excessive force after use of excess force.

In no scenario is it okay to be pepper spraying people as you're leaving the scene.

It's just they're mad, they're scared, you know, they're able to get away with it, so they're just using the power they have to use force against people.

(firing pepper balls on video) >> THOMPSON: I also showed our footage to Chris Magnus.

>> This isn't a (bleep) war zone!

This is our (bleep) neighborhood!

>> It's, it's pretty awful.

Um, you know, I mean, one of the things in policing when it comes to use of force, um, it's proportionality.

Is the force really proportional to what you're, what you're receiving or what you're dealing with.

People may well get under your skin under a lot of circumstances.

You don't like it, but professionals don't react to it.

>> This what our country has become.

Take off your vests, walk away, and say that you will not allow this to ruin our country.

You have a chance to rectify this.

You have a chance to do right by your country that you're so proud of.

>> THOMPSON: Bovino never ended up doing an interview with me.

>> Go!

(Bleep) you!

(whistles blowing) >> THOMPSON: The Trump administration was continuing to express support for how the operations were being conducted.

>> To all ICE officers: You have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties.

>> THOMPSON: They reposted comments by Trump's advisor, Stephen Miller.

>> You have immunity to perform your duties, and no one, no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duty.

>> You ready?

>> Yep, let's do it.

>> We are asking this federal government to stop the unconstitutional conduct that is invading our streets each and every day.

>> THOMPSON: I met with Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey as he and other Minnesota leaders announced a lawsuit they hoped would end the crackdown.

>> We've got about 600-plus police officers in the city of Minneapolis.

And ICE and Border Control is coming in here with approximately 3,000 or more.

And so this is massively disproportionate.

>> THOMPSON: We've been in the streets here-- it is tense.

Are you worried that more people are going to be hurt or killed?

>> Yes.

(car horns honking, whistles blowing) >> (Bleep) you, (bleep)!

>> THOMPSON: 12 days later, 37-year-old I.C.U.

nurse Alex Pretti, tries to intervene as federal agents knock a woman down.

>> Whoa!

>> THOMPSON: They repeatedly pepper spray him.

>> What the (bleep) people?

What the (bleep) is wrong with you?

>> THOMPSON: He's pinned on the ground.

(whistles blowing) Video shows an agent removing a legally owned handgun that Pretti had in a holster.

Then... (gunshots) (woman screaming) ...ten shots.

>> The (bleep) did you just do?

What the (bleep) did you just do?

What the (bleep)?

>> This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.

>> THOMPSON: Alex Pretti's killing was a turning point.

>> You are so evil!

>> Sworn declarations were submitted in federal court by people who say they witnessed the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.

They contradict the version of events presented by federal officials.

>> The U.S.

Border Patrol Commander at Large has been demoted amid the fallout... >> THOMPSON: Greg Bovino would quickly be dismissed >> President Trump facing growing scrutiny within his own party over how this immigration crackdown is being handled.

>> THOMPSON: And amid political pressure that now included Republicans, the president sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis.

>> I'm not here because the... federal government has carried its mission out perfectly.

President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made.

That's exactly what I'm doing here.

>> Even though Gregory Bovino is gone, I wonder if his imprint will last through all the federal agencies that are continuing to go out on the street.

I wonder, if anything will change really, (camera clicking) He was the one who was the tip of the spear for this new type of immigration enforcement across the country.

>> 65 percent say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gone too far.

>> THOMPSON: The mass sweeps and violent clashes have subsided for now.

But immigration arrests continue in large numbers.

(crowd singing) And in cities around the country, there are deep scars.

And fear about what lies ahead.

>> NARRATOR: Go to pbs.org/frontline... >> President Trump would quickly mobilize the National Guard.

>> NARRATOR: For more reporting on this story with our partners at ProPublica.

>> And are you yelling anything or saying anything?

>> Nope.

I didn't say a single word.

>> NARRATOR: And see more of our work with reporter A.C.

Thompson.

Connect with FRONTLINE on Facebook and Instagram and stream anytime on the PBS app, YouTube or pbs.org/frontline.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org >> For more on this and other "FRONTLINE" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

FRONTLINE's "Caught in the Crackdown" is available on Amazon Prime Video.