President Joe Biden has nominated the sheriff of Harris County, Texas, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies, to be director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ed Gonzalez, a Houston police officer for nearly two decades, has been the sheriff of one of the nation’s most populous and most diverse counties since 2016. He publicly criticized Donald Trump’s policies during the former president’s term for focusing on immigrants who did not pose public safety threats. Gonzalez went so far as to withdraw his bureau from a federal agreement that deputized sheriff’s departments to enforce immigrations laws on behalf of Customs and Border Protection. ICE has not had a director confirmed by the Senate since 2017.
