Biden picks Texas sheriff who criticized Trump-era policies for ICE director

President Joe Biden will nominate Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a critic of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, to serve as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the White House announced Tuesday.

Gonzalez, who was elected Sheriff of Harris County in 2016, has a decades-long career in law enforcement, according to his biography. He criticized the Trump administration for its stances on border and emergency management issues.

“Diverting valuable law enforcement resources away from public safety threats would drive undocumented families further into the shadows & damage our community safety,” Gonzalez tweeted in 2019. “It silences witnesses & victims & world further worsen the challenges law enforcement officials face #ICEraids.”

Gonzalez also pushed back in 2018 when Trump suggested that a main reason the US Coast Guard was so busy rescuing people during Hurricane Harvey — which made landfall in Texas and left an estimated 30,000 people in need of temporary shelter — was that people were watching the storm on boats.

“I didn’t see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments,” Gonzalez told the Houston Chronicle at the time. “I’ll be sure to invite the President to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.