Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, nominated by President Joe Biden to be director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has withdrawn from consideration for the position.
Gonzalez made the announcement in a series of posts on Twitter on Monday.
"On Sunday, I informed President Biden's administration that I am respectfully withdrawing from consideration for the post of Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Gonzalez wrote.
Gonzalez is serving his second term as sheriff of the most populous county in Texas, where Houston is located.
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"I am grateful to President Biden for the honor of nominating me, and I wish this administration well as it strives to overcome the paralyzing political gridlock that threatens far more than our nation's border. Frankly, the dysfunction threatens America's heart and soul," Gonzalez added.
At the time, reaction to Gonzalez's nomination for ICE was predictably more favorable among immigration advocates than opponents. Ali Noorani, president of the National Immigration Forum, then said Gonzalez was “an excellent choice that would bring much-needed permanent leadership — and a risk-based, more humane, measured approach — to our nation’s immigration enforcement.”
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for stiff restrictions, at the time called Gonzalez “a staunch opponent of our interior immigration enforcement” and said his nomination was part of Biden's “unrelenting assault on the integrity of our immigration enforcement system.”
