In January 2026, a rumor circulated that U.S. Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino wore a Nazi-style trench coat as he walked around Minneapolis with federal agents. Bovino arrived in the city after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in the city on Jan. 7, sparking protests and debate nationwide.
Photographs of Bovino wearing a trench coat drew comparisons to uniforms worn by Nazi leadership and the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler. Snopes readers reached out to seek clarification on whether Bovino's outfit actually drew inspiration from Nazi uniforms.
(Facebook user MS NOW (News Junkies))
The photographs and footage of Bovino walking around in the long trench coat were authentic and were not created using artificial intelligence software, nor manipulated using digital editing tools. However, comparisons between his sartorial choices and actual Nazi uniforms were purely speculative. We were unable to prove whether he intended to draw Nazi comparisons by wearing such a coat.
Bovino wore the long trench coat in military green with gold buttons and yellow Border Patrol logos on each arm while surrounded by federal agents in Minneapolis in January.
In one video shared by former CNN correspondent Don Lemon, Bovino can be overheard shouting at protesters to get off the road. In the background, someone shouts "Brownshirts!" referring to the Sturmabteilung — another early 20th-century paramilitary organization under Hitler that was known for its brown uniforms.
Bovino's long coat was similar to coats worn by Nazi leaders. Photographs from Getty Images and historical sketches from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum show SS officers wore similar double-breasted coats, some of which appeared to be leather:
(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum/Wikimedia Commons)
(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum/Wikimedia Commons)
The following image has the caption "1942: SS Obersturmführer, Eduard Karl Schmidt (1901 - 1973) with an alsatian dog, 1942. A photo from an album documenting German atrocities in occupied Poland during World War II":
(Laski Diffusion/Getty Images)
However, while there were similarities between Bovino's coat and those worn by SS officers and other Nazi leadership, that style of long coat was fairly common and also was worn by U.S. soldiers in World War II, as seen in historic photographs from Getty Images.
This following image is captioned "Military Soldier in Long Coat Smoking Pipe, Portrait, WWII, HQ 2nd Battalion, 389th Infantry, US Army Military Base, Indiana, USA, 1942":
(Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
The caption for the image below reads: "Soldiers in Row Near Tents During Inspection, WWII, HQ 2nd Battalion, 389th Infantry, US Army Military Base, Indiana, USA, 1942":
(Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
The claim about Bovino's coat spread widely because critics have accused Border Patrol and ICE agents of using Nazi-like tactics by going door to door and searching for immigrants to deport. Singer Bruce Springsteen compared Trump's immigration crackdown to "Gestapo tactics," referring to the Nazi secret police.
Snopes has previously covered an rumor that the Department of Homeland Security used a lectern displaying a Nazi slogan during a news conference. We also analyzed Department of Labor posters during the Trump administration that used imagery experts said dehumanizes immigrants.