April 27, 2021

To lead ICE, Biden picks Texas sheriff who criticized Trump’s immigration policies (The Washington Post) – President Biden has nominated a critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The White House announced that Biden’s pick for ICE director is Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a veteran law enforcement officer who transformed the sheriff’s office in the Houston metropolitan area from one of the agency’s staunchest allies into a reluctant partner.
Gonzalez withdrew his department from a voluntary federal program that for years helped to detain and deport immigrants, and has expressed concern that involving local law enforcement in civil deportation efforts “silences witnesses & victims” by making immigrants afraid to report crimes. Gonzalez’s position mirrors the Biden administration’s new policy to limit ICE arrests to recent border crossers or people who are threats to national security or convicted of aggravated felonies.