The Hollywood sign has been blown up in movies, altered by pranksters to read “Hollyweed,” “Jollygood” and “Hollyboob” and saw Tom Cruise staple some Olympic rings on it to promote the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Politicians have used it as a prop for commercials and mailers the way they do kissing a baby or eating a taco. Out-of-town goobers and locals alike hike up to various vantage points around it for a selfie or group shot.
But the crown for the worst stunt involving the monument to everything dreamy and wonderful about L.A. now lies with the Border Patrol.
Earlier this week, Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol sector chief in charge of Trump’s long, hot deportation summer in L.A., posted on social media a photo of him and dozens of his officers posing on a patch of dirt in what looks like Lake Hollywood Park. Behind them is the Hollywood sign.
Arms are crossed. Hands are on belts. A few National Guard troops, one with a K9 unit, join in. None of the faces are masked for once. That’s because they didn’t have to be: Almost every one of them is blurred out.
“This is the team. They’re the ones on the ground, making it happen,” wrote Bovino, one of only two in the photo without a blurry face. “The mean green team is not going anywhere. We are here to stay.” And just in case readers didn’t get that la migra is hard, Bovino concluded his post with a fire emoji.
The faces of these supposedly brave men are more fuzzed out than Bigfoot in that famous footage from 1967.
Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the nonprofit in charge of maintaining the Hollywood sign, said “we have to stay neutral on these types of things,” so he didn’t offer his opinion on why a man who spent his summer terrorizing large swaths of the Southland would want to pose there. He did say the Border Patrol didn’t request special access to get closer to it as other politicians have in the past.
“It was probably a team-building effort for them, or a lot of them probably hadn’t seen it before,” he said. “It’s a symbol of America. Maybe that’s why they were standing up there. Who knows?”
L.A. Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose district is where the Hollywood sign stands, was not as charitable.
“To see an icon of this city used for an image designed to instill fear in Angelenos is chilling — particularly on the heels of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling which dealt a devastating blow to a city that has already faced so much hardship this year,” she said in a statement.
Bovino is expected to show up soon in Chicago to oversee the Border Patrol’s invasion of the Windy Cindy. His press team didn’t return my request for an interview or my questions about whether the photo was digitally altered — other than the face blurring and the ultra-sharp focusing on Bovino — and what he hoped to accomplish with it. The sign itself looks shrouded in fog, but who knows? The whole photo has a weirdness about it.
Nevertheless, Bovino’s smirk in the group portrait says it all.
This is a guy who came into town like so many newcomers before him wanting to make it big and willing to do whatever it took. Short, with a high fade haircut and nasal drawl, Bovino quickly became a constant on local news, selling himself as a mix of Andy Griffith (a fellow North Carolina native) and Lt. Col. Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now.”
He starred in slickly produced government-created videos portraying the Border Patrol as warriors on a divine mission to make the City of Angeles safe from immigrant infidels. He claimed local politicians were endangering residents with their sanctuary policies and gleefully thumbed his nose at a temporary restraining order barring indiscriminate raids like those, which the Supreme Court just ruled can start happening again. He was there, a cameraman filming his every strut, when National Guard troops in armed Humvees parked along Whittier Boulevard in July all so Border Patrol agents on horseback could trot through an empty MacArthur Park.
Bovino cheered on via social media when his “mean green team” rented a Penske truck to lure in day laborers at a Westlake Home Depot in August only to detain them. Even worse was Bovino showing up in front of the Japanese American National Museum with a phalanx of migra while California’s political class was inside decrying the gerrymandering push by President Trump. He pleaded ignorance on that last action when Gov. Gavin Newsom and others accused the sector chief of trying to intimidate them even as friendly media just happened to be there, just like they so happened to be embedded with immigration agents all summer as they chased after tamale ladies and day laborers.
Supporters played up his moves as if they were a master class in psyops, with grandiose codenames such as Operation Trojan Horse for the Penske truck raid and Operation Excalibur for the invasion of MacArthur Park. So Bovino and his janissaries posing in front of the Hollywood sign comes off like a hunter posing in front of his killed prey or a taunting postcard to L.A.: Thinking about you. See you soon.
But all of Bovino’s actions grabbed far more non-criminals than actual bad hombres and did nothing to make Southern California safer. Locals have countered his attempt at a shock-and-awe campaign with lawsuits, protests, mutual aid and neighborhood watches that won’t end. That resistance forced la migra to cry to their daddy Trump for National Guard and Marine backup, with an occasional call to the LAPD and L.A. Sheriff’s Department to keep away the boo birds who now track their every move.
Greg: hope you enjoyed your stay in L.A. Congrats — you made it! You’re the star of your own D-level Tinseltown production that no one except pendejos wants to see. You left L.A. as one of the most loathed outsiders since former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Stay gone. Wish you weren’t here.
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Perspectives
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Ideas expressed in the piece
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The author condemns the Border Patrol’s group photo at the Hollywood sign as the “worst stunt” involving Los Angeles’ iconic monument, viewing it as an inappropriate use of a symbol representing “everything dreamy and wonderful about L.A.”
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The author characterizes Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino’s enforcement operations throughout the summer as “terrorizing large swaths of the Southland” rather than legitimate law enforcement, arguing these actions were designed primarily to “instill fear in Angelenos”
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The author criticizes Bovino’s tactics as ineffective at improving public safety, asserting that his operations “grabbed far more non-criminals than actual bad hombres and did nothing to make Southern California safer”
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The author portrays Bovino as a publicity-seeking outsider who came to Los Angeles “wanting to make it big and willing to do whatever it took,” comparing the chief’s media presence to starring in “slickly produced government-created videos”
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The author condemns specific enforcement operations, including using a rental truck to “lure in day laborers” and targeting vulnerable populations like “tamale ladies,” characterizing these as deceptive and cruel tactics
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The author views the recent Supreme Court ruling lifting restrictions on immigration enforcement as enabling “state-sponsored racism” and creating conditions where Latino citizens become “second-class citizens” subject to racial profiling[3]
Different views on the topic
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Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the nonprofit maintaining the Hollywood sign, offers a more charitable interpretation, suggesting the photo “was probably a team-building effort” and noting that the Hollywood sign serves as “a symbol of America,” potentially explaining why Border Patrol agents would want to pose there
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Supporters of Bovino’s operations viewed his enforcement tactics as sophisticated strategic operations, describing them as “a master class in psyops” with organized codenames like “Operation Trojan Horse” and “Operation Excalibur”
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The Trump administration has argued to the Supreme Court that racial profiling capabilities are necessary for effective immigration enforcement, contending that without these tools, “the prospect of contempt” would hang “over every investigative stop”[3]
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Federal authorities and supporters frame these enforcement operations as necessary public safety measures targeting individuals who pose risks to communities, rather than random harassment of immigrant populations[1][2]
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The Supreme Court majority, led by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, characterized immigration enforcement encounters as “brief investigative stops” where citizens and legal residents “will be free to go after the brief encounter,” minimizing concerns about prolonged detention or abuse[3]