A Border Patrol agent who allegedly threatened to shoot a bystander during an arrest is behind a social media account rife with racist, sexist, and anti-LGBT posts, according to a report.
Timothy Donohue, 38, was a member of lead commander Gregory Bovino’s maurauding so-called “Green Army” during “Operation Midway Blitz” in Illinois, part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Donahue was cited—though not by name—in a blistering opinion by U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis after he was filmed threatening someone watching an arrest in Evanston.
Federal agents detained three people following a car crash in Evanston on Oct. 31, leading to a confrontation with locals. A bearded Donahue was filmed twice pointing his weapon at bystanders while shouting, “Step back or I’m going to shoot you,” as a woman in the firing line is heard screaming.
ICE List—an accountability project that tracks federal immigration agents—used FOIA information and the police crash report from the incident to identify Donahue by name. Independent Chicago media organization Unraveled then uncovered the vile online activity of Donahue, from Yuma, Arizona.
Posting on X as @Timothy77593126, Donahue—who had claimed on the platform that he previously worked as a paramedic, which he also repeated during the violent arrest cited by Judge Ellis—has, over the past four years, endorsed or amplified white supremacist, racist, misogynistic, and homophobic content.
In April 2024, Donahue approvingly wrote “Based” beneath a meme in which a “white southerner[..] father” disowns his teenage daughter via text message for going to a prom with her Black boyfriend. He later posted the same word under a clip allegedly showing two men attacking a gay man.
When asked to “share an unpopular opinion,” in January 2023, he wrote: “Some cultures are better than others.”
Donahue—who got married in Ohio in 2011, according to public records—also posted about women. When an X user asked in September 2023 if America would be better if women couldn’t vote, Donahue replied: “Yes.”
The following month, he wrote “Woodchipper” under a photo of a drag queen speaking to a child. That followed a post in March that year where he replied, “Good,” to a story about fear in the trans community after the Nashville school shooting.
An archived version of Donahue’s X account shows the same handle and a photo of him, younger and clean-shaven, before his display name was changed from his own name to “Donny,” and then, following journalist inquiries, to “Based Red Beard,” before it changed again in the past two weeks.
Of the Halloween incident where Donahue drew his weapon, Judge Ellis wrote that agents drove “erratically and through stop signs and red lights,” then “made a fast right turn” that triggered a rear-end crash with a red civilian car.
Agents were then filmed punching a man repeatedly in the head, detaining multiple bystanders on the sidewalk. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss described Border Patrol’s conduct as “lawlessness.” The detainees were released without charges.
Local authorities also documented the confrontation—and named Donahue. Emails obtained by Evanston Now revealed Police Chief Schenita Stewart stating she would refer evidence from the clash to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division after additional footage suggested federal jurisdiction.
A crash report recorded a Border Patrol agent, “an Arizonan named Timothy Donahue,” among those involved. Witnesses said agents caused the collision by brake-checking, but the police report didn’t assign fault.
According to publicly available records, in December 2010, Donahue received two traffic tickets—one for speeding and another for not wearing a seatbelt.
The Evanston incident was among the scenes where Ellis found sworn court accounts by federal agents “impossible to believe.” In a sharp rebuke of Bovino, Ellis depicted an operation that was out of control, saying agents acted recklessly and then lied about it.
Donahue has not responded to multiple messages from the Daily Beast seeking comment. The Department of Homeland Security has also not responded to multiple requests for comment. Donahue‘s account remains active at the time of publication.
