By Curtis Brodner
(WASHINGTON) President Joe Biden nominated Texas Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to be the new director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tuesday, NBC News reported.
Gonzalez, who is the sheriff of Harris County, has been a vocal critic of some Trump-era immigration policies, according to The Texas Tribune.
During his tenure as sheriff, Gonzalez ended a Harris County program in which deputies were trained by ICE to screen arrestees for immigration status to turn them over for deportation.
A 2020 report by the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative found ICE stationed nine agents in the Harris County jail who continued to screen detainees for immigration status after the training program ended.
Harris County continued to collaborate with ICE by holding prisoners for deportation upon request.
Holds on prisoners slated for deportation actually increased 60% in the period immediately following the end of the program, The Texas Tribune reported.
Harris County is the largest sheriff’s office in Texas with 5,000 employees. Before his tenure as sheriff, Gonzalez worked as an officer with the Houston police department for 18 years.
ICE has not had a permanent director since 2017. The Trump administration instead cycled through five different acting directors in this period.
Gonzalez must be confirmed by the Senate before taking on the position.