To lead ICE, Biden picks Texas sheriff who criticized Trump's immigration policies
Source: Washington Post
President Biden has nominated a critic of the Trump administrations immigration policies to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the federal governments most polarizing agencies. The White House announced that Bidens pick for ICE director is Harris County, Tex., Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a veteran law enforcement officer who transformed the sheriffs office in the Houston metropolitan area from one of the agencys 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. I do not support #ICERaids that threaten to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom do not represent a threat to the U.S., Gonzalez said in a tweet in July 2019, amid reports of immigration roundups. The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats. Not others who are not threats.
Gonzalez runs the third largest sheriffs office in the United States, with approximately 5,000 employees and a $571 million annual budget. If confirmed, he would take over a federal agency with more than 20,000 employees worldwide and an $8 billion-a-year budget. Gonzalezs nomination comes at a pivotal time for ICE, which a Pew Research Center survey found had a lower approval rating last year than the Internal Revenue Service. Hundreds of sanctuary cities and towns have limited their cooperation with the agency or refused to work with it at all. And some liberals have called for the Biden administration to abolish ICE.
ICE is best known for arresting and deporting people for civil immigration violations such as overstaying their visas or working without legal papers. But the agency also works on criminal investigations, such as drug or human trafficking cases that can target U.S. citizens, via its Homeland Security Investigations division. ICE has long contended that, away from the nations borders, most detainees are taken directly from state prisons or county jails after being arrested for crimes, in keeping with its mission to improve public safety. But critics say they have detained and deported thousands of immigrants for minor offenses such as traffic stops.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/ed-gonzalez-ice/2021/04/27/3c25c7c6-a785-11eb-bca5-048b2759a489_story.html
barbtries
(28,789 posts)i'd like to see it abolished.
BumRushDaShow
(128,898 posts)when they manufactured the Department of Homeland Security and then cobbled together a bunch of agencies from other Departments (like Treasury, which Customs used to be under), Transportation (with the airport screeners becoming TSA), and they even took some USDA entities to shove into a massive department.
I believe before ICE, the functions were INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and U.S. Customs Service. And now to have 2 "enforcement" entities - CBP and ICE is, IMHO, redundant.
onetexan
(13,037 posts)barbtries
(28,789 posts)what really concerns me is that they seemed to be staffed with people who believe trump's claim that immigrants from mexico and central america "aren't even human," but they'd probably treat dogs better than they do.
BumRushDaShow
(128,898 posts)many of them are Mexican-Americans and were recruited because they speak Spanish.
barbtries
(28,789 posts)they make a good living. probably racking up lots of overtime. and then they get to feel superior to others and be as cruel as they like without consequences.
#AbolishICE
BumRushDaShow
(128,898 posts)Plus most of the immigrants are a different ethnic group/nationality (Guatemalans, Salvadorans, etc) so that adds another layer of discord to the encounters.
keithbvadu2
(36,783 posts)Should Biden give other unions the similar powers that Trump gave the ICE union?
Surely the GQP would not object... Right?
BumRushDaShow
(128,898 posts)Regardless, Cuccinelli belongs in jail due to his unauthorized position in DHS before his ass finally left.
AwakeAtLast
(14,124 posts)Turbineguy
(37,322 posts)Lots of smart people who criticized trump.
All trump had to choose from were crooks and idiots.