Calling Greg Bovino a "b*tch" raises thousands for Minn. immigrant rights

You’ve probably seen him: The pint-sized CBP chief with the nazi haircut and matching wardrobe stomping around the streets of various US cities and terrorizing innocent people. His name, if you’re fortunate enough to not have learned it by now, is Greg Bovino. And on Tuesday I diagnosed him as a bitch.

This name-calling may seem beneath me, but it’s important to understand two things: one, no it’s not; and two, humiliating fascists is a surprisingly successful tool of resistance. The genesis of bitch diagnosis started last June when I called US Border Czar Tom Homan one on Bluesky in response to some awful thing he’d said. I know it’s a loaded word for some that can be viewed as misogynistic, but when directed at cruel men in power, it just feels right. I meant a bitch in the sense that he’s a whiny baby who takes no responsibility for his actions and blindly follows orders from the Trump administration. Well, this characterization so tickled one of my followers that they sent me $25 on Venmo with the note, “To support calling Tom Homan a bitch.” Naturally I shared a screenshot of the payment, and a few thousands dollars in donations to The Handbasket later, a meme was born. And now it’s helped raise more than $18,000 for immigrant rights in Minnesota.

Bovino held a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Minneapolis during which he rubber stamped all of ICE and CBP’s brutal actions against people in the Twin Cities. "Everything we do is legal, ethical and moral," he said. After months of watching this pathetic man tour around the country like a war tourist, I had enough. So I posted on Bluesky, “I’ve seen enough: Greg Bovino is a bitch.” I quickly received a Venmo for it, as has become tradition when I lob the b-word at a Trump lackey, but then it occurred to me this could be a great vehicle for fundraising to help the people hurt most by Bovino and his soldiers. A few minutes later I got another Venmo with the note “Bitch Bovino fund.” And thus the Greg Bovino Bitch Fund Benefiting Immigrant Rights in Minnesota was born. 

Launched at 4:46pm ET on Tuesday, I said that all funds raised through the end of the day would go to an immigrant rights organization in Minnesota. Donations started trickling in, and almost immediately there was one for $500. Then the trickle turned into a stream, with more donations coming in each minute than I could record in real time (including one from Lilly Wachowski, co-director of The Matrix films!) Three hours later, I declared a goal for the end of day: $10,000. We reached it at 9pm.

I knew there would likely be more coming in, but I decided to cap the first donation there and give additional funds to another org. As a result of hundreds of donations, we sent $10k to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, a nonprofit working tirelessly to defend low-income immigrants and refugees, free of charge. It was an organization recommended to me by people on the ground in Minnesota.

I figured a few more dollars would roll in after that initial triumph, but it turned out to be more than a few: By Wednesday afternoon the Greg Bovino Bitch Fund Benefiting Immigrant Rights in Minnesota had raised an additional $8,500. After asking for more recommendations, I chose to send the fund’s money to the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). It’s an organization that supports immigrants in all areas of life, from housing to food, to workplace and legal support.

While the most grueling and dangerous work is being done on the ground in Minnesota and Maine and communities big and small around the country, it was incredible to see the spirit those frontline responders have inspired in people everywhere who want to help however they can. Maybe you get to call Bovino a bitch to his face; maybe you just donate to the fund. It takes all kinds. While our collective rage isn’t enough to stop every violent, unlawful, inhumane immigrant roundup, a sense of community pride has allowed us to at least protect many of the most vulnerable.

This isn’t typically the station of a journalist. I was brought up in a culture where divorcing yourself from the subject matter was required to be good at your job. But—and pardon the continued cursing—fuck that. I’m here to first and foremost inform and educate, but if I can use this little platform for material change, that’s what I’m going to do. I hope others have the courage of conscience to realize these are not normal times, and society as we know it is slipping away. But it’s time to hold tight to shared human values and try to preserve what is good.

Even if that involves calling someone a bitch.

Related from The Handbasket:

• Behind the disturbing image of ICE snatching a half-naked, elderly Hmong American from his home

• Queer trans ICE protester in small Minn. city recounts agents' violence and humiliation

• The hell of being a ‘Kavanaugh stop’ victim