President Joe Biden’s pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a long history of opposing the very agency he’s supposed to run.
Biden announced this week that he nominated Texas Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, who worked for the Houston Police Department for nearly two decades before becoming sheriff.
As sheriff, Gonzalez used his office to denounce ICE for detaining and deporting immigrants, which is one of the agency’s primary responsibilities.
He even supported leftist “sanctuary city” policies, pulling Harris County out of an ICE program that allows local law enforcement to be deputized by ICE so they can carry out federal immigration tasks in their own jails.
In 2019, Gonzalez vowed not to work with ICE after former president Donald Trump gave the agency the green light to deport illegal immigrants during the 2019 immigration crisis.
“I do not support #ICERaids that threaten to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom do not represent a threat to the U.S.,” he wrote on Twitter at the time.
I do not support #ICERaids that threaten to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom do not represent a threat to the U.S. The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats. Not others who are not threats. @HCSOTexas does not participate.
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) July 12, 2019
Immigration hawks urged Republicans to reject Gonzalez’s nomination, arguing he would push an open-borders agenda if given control of the agency.
“ICE exists to enforce immigration laws in the interior of the country,” said RJ Hauman, head of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, in a statement.
“Nominating someone who will prevent the agency from doing its job at a critical time not only threatens public safety, but incentivizes wayward employers to hire illegal aliens,” Hauman continued. “Any senator who votes to confirm Ed Gonzalez should be voted out of office.”
