The Failure of the Gonzalez ICE Nomination Is a Win for America

June 28, 2022

IRLI investigation broke details on Texas sheriff’s anti-ICE positions

WASHINGTON—Ed Gonzalez has withdrawn his name from consideration as the Biden Administration’s pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his nomination stalled in the Senate for more than a year. Thanks to an investigation by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), Americans now know that Gonzalez, like too many other Biden appointees, has radical views that are at odds with the mission of the agency he was picked to lead.

Last July IRLI broke the details on Gonzales, who serves as sheriff of Harris County, the most populous county in Texas. The investigation found troubling details in Gonzalez’s history showing his lack of fitness for the ICE leadership post.

Almost immediately upon entering office, Gonzalez terminated the Harris County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) program in February 2017, ending an effective cooperation agreement that helps ICE locate, apprehend and deport criminal illegal aliens.

In July 2019, Gonzalez took to Twitter and denounced ICE arrest and removal operations, a core function of the agency to keep dangerous criminal aliens out of American communities.

“Despite the best efforts of the Biden Administration to demoralize ICE agents and gut the nation’s ability to enforce immigration laws, this is a victory,” said Dale L. Wilcox, IRLI’s executive director and general counsel. “Ed Gonzalez’s track record and stated positions are all wrong to lead this critical agency. The White House needs to stop playing partisan political games and start safeguarding America and its citizens.”

“This withdrawal is a win for the men and women of ICE,” said Tom Homan, IRLI’s senior fellow and former acting ICE director during the Trump Administration. “Gonzalez was nominated for this position as another move to shut down immigration enforcement. He didn’t work with ICE when he was police chief and doesn’t support immigration enforcement and the mission of ICE. That is why he was selected.”