HOUSTON, TX – On Tuesday, Ed Gonzalez was making headlines, and not for good reasons.
He is the Sheriff of Harris County, which includes the city of Houston and has a population of nearly 5 million people. Elected in 2016, the sheriff is no stranger to controversial opinions.
On Tuesday, he blasted a bill being discussed in the Texas Senate that would make the Lone Star State the 21st state to allow “constitutional carry” if passed.
Preferring the state legislature to start pushing for red flag laws, he said:
“Permitless carry does not make our community safer. Instead it increases the odds of deadly confrontation and puts the lives of first responders at even greater risk.”
Two hours later, President Biden announced that he was nominating Sheriff Gonzalez, a Democrat, to be the new Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The irony? Ed Gonzalez is not a fan of ICE.
“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.,” he wrote in a tweet from 2019. “The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats. Not others who are not threats.”
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. The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats. Not others who are not threats. @HCSOTexas does not participate.
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) July 12, 2019
There you have it…an elected law enforcement official stating that he is opposed to enforcement of the law, at least as it pertains to immigration. So, we now have an open border administration that has turned our southern border into a crisis.
According to Breitbart:
“Analysis finds Biden’s orders are stopping about 9-in-10 deportations while they have already cut the number of criminal illegal aliens in federal custody by 70 percent. ICE arrests, similarly, have been reduced by 80 percent as states and localities are forced to release criminal illegal aliens back into their communities.”
And that administration wants to give the reins to a man that believes that anyone should be allowed to come into the country, in violation of federal law, and nothing be done to stop it.
He removed the Harris County Sheriff’s Office from the 287(g) agreement with ICE, which is the program that allows local law enforcement to seamlessly turn criminal illegal aliens over to ICE agents.
“After thoughtful consideration, I’ve decided to opt-out of the voluntary 287(g) program,” Gonzalez told the Houston Chronicle at the time. “We’ll still be cooperating with local, state, and federal authorities as we always have, we just won’t have our manpower resources inside the jail doing that.”
Gonzalez is also one who believes that without sanctuary status, witnesses will not come forward out fear of deportation.
“Diverting valuable law enforcement resources away from public safety threats would drive undocumented families further into the shadows & damage our community safety. It silences witnesses & victims & world further worsen the challenges law enforcement officials face #ICEraids”
Diverting valuable law enforcement resources away from public safety threats would drive undocumented families further into the shadows & damage our community safety. It silences witnesses & victims & world further worsen the challenges law enforcement officials face #ICEraids
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) July 12, 2019
He was also very vocal about legislation that was being discussed in the Texas state legislature that would punish sanctuary cities.
“Simply put, we believe this bill undermines public safety,” he told KVUE in 2017.
“We should all be concerned about that. If passed, Senate Bill 4 undermines our expertise as law enforcement officials and our ability to respond to the needs of our communities.
SB 4 would coerce local law enforcement to dedicate often scarce resources such as jail space, on duty time of officers and local tax dollars to a job that is supposed to be done by the federal government.”
While many on the liberal progressive side were quick to congratulate him on the nomination, like Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, not everyone was as excited about the nod from the White House.
Rejoice in the streets! Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez will head ICE! Hallelujah!
— Liberal Texas (@LiberalTexas1) April 27, 2021
Congrats to my friend Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on being nominated to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the Biden Administration. I'll be sad for him to leave us, but President Biden will gain a compassionate, thoughtful and courageous leader. @SheriffEd_HCSO
— Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) April 27, 2021
“ICE exists to enforce immigration laws in the interior of the country.
Nominating someone who will prevent the agency from doing its job at a critical time not only threatens public safety, but incentivizes wayward employers to hire illegal aliens,” RJ Hauman, head of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said in a statement.
“Any senator who votes to confirm Ed Gonzalez should be voted out of office.”
While Harris County is a liberal bastion in Texas, not all of its residents are a fan of Gonzalez or his work.
It’s a shame that you get to choose which laws to enforce.
— Bonnie (@Txladee69) July 12, 2019
I hope u never have to go through the pain of losing a loved one to an illegal alien.
— EJ Junior (@BuzzsawEJ) April 27, 2021
Gonzalez’s nomination comes on the hills of the President tapping Tucson police chief Chris Magnus to head up Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Like Gonzalez, Magnus has also been a staunch critic of the Trump-era border policies as well as the agency he is slated to run.
Magnus made national headlines in 2014 for attending a Black Live Matter event in his uniform. At the time, he was the chief of police in Richmond, CA. That rally was held as a demonstration protesting the death of Michael Brown.
When criticized by the local police union for his decision to attend in uniform, he simply said that if he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t change a thing.

In a 2017 op-ed written for the New York Times, Magnus showed his disdain of the Trump administration:
“The harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric and Mr. Sessions’s reckless policies ignore a basic reality known by most good cops and prosecutors.
If people are afraid of the police, if they fear they may become separated from their families or harshly interrogated based on their immigration status, they won’t report crimes or come forward as witnesses.
As the police chief here, I’m deeply troubled by the Trump administration’s campaign against ‘sanctuary cities,’ which refuse to turn over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.
Washington is trying to retaliate against them by withholding funding for things like crime prevention, drug treatment and mental health programs.
Almost all local law enforcement agencies, regardless of the ‘sanctuary’ or ‘immigrant-welcoming’ policies adopted by their jurisdictions, cooperate with federal authorities to go after drug cartels, human traffickers and transnational gangs.
Justice Department grants and other federal support funded through our taxes should not be tied to immigration policies.”
These nominations come at a critical time. There is a crisis at our border. The President himself used those words. But he is showing that he really has no interest in protecting our country, its citizens or the sovereignty of our borders.
Border Patrol union president: ‘No one has done more to enrich organized crime than President Biden’
WASHINGTON, D.C.- On Monday, April 26th, the National Border Patrol Council president stated that President Joe Biden has done more to enhance organized crime and place women and children in harm’s way at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Border Patrol Council President Judd Rips Biden Over Border Crisis — ‘Nobody Has Done Worse on Border Security’ https://t.co/zOo5kWI8y2
— judyann451 (@judyannaggie) April 26, 2021
According to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), southwest border encounters surged from 101,028 in February 2021 to 172,331 in March 2021. In January, the total encounters were 78, 444 and even less at the end of 2020.
In a recent appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, stated:
“Nobody has done more to enrich organized crime than President Biden.”
Judd added:
“When you look at the first 100 days of this administration as evidence by the numbers, nobody has done worse on border security than President Biden. Nobody has put women and children under more danger than President Biden has.”
President Trump had the Border Wall controlled like a ‘light switch’. @BPUnion President Brandon Judd #MigrantProtectionLaws pic.twitter.com/IQClquTy1D
— SgtPepper1964 (@SPepper1964) April 27, 2021
Judd stated that the president is “clearly failing” over the border crisis and that Biden not visiting the location indicates that he does not know how to begin fixing the massive problem.
Judd also added that it is unacceptable for Vice President Kamala Harris to visit Central America in June and not any sooner.
Border Patrol Council President: ‘The Cartels Control the Border Now’ https://t.co/heqLa8Ddvf
— BW (@Briley_Webb) April 24, 2021
He reiterated that Harris “refused to do her job” and that he hopes Americans realize how poorly the administration is failing in its border policies. Judd said:
“Again, it’s easy to blame COVID when it’s convenient, but when you don’t have answers, when you don’t have solutions, all you do is put it back on COVID and say well I can’t do this because COVID’s not allowing me to.”
He added:
“But, she (Harris) can travel across the world, across the United States, but for something that is so important to the American public as border security, she refused to do her job.”
On Sunday, April 25th, Harris reportedly dismissed questions over a “potential visit” to the souther border, saying to a reporter she is “not going to play political games.” A reporter with WMUR, a local ABC affiliate in New Hampshire, asked Harris:
“Republicans are attacking you, saying you shouldn’t be in New Hampshire talking about infrastructure, you should be at the southern border talking about immigration. How do you respond to that?”
To which Harris responded by saying:
“I’m not going to play political games.”
Going to the border to view the migrant crisis firsthand is "what the president and the vice president are supposed to do,"
Kamala Harris purposely ‘avoids’ US-Mexico border: Border Patrol council chief https://t.co/NkbaTNzR25 #FoxNews
— ugh… maybe (@michaelallenmar) April 19, 2021
According to Fox News, the vice president’s office said in a statement that Harris, Mexican President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador and two officials are going to meet virtually on May 7th. The statement said, in part:
“This meeting will deepen the partnership between our countries to achieve the common goals of prosperity, good governance, and addressing the root causes of migration.”
Judd said Harris can protect herself in many ways from the coronavirus and pointed out that former President Donald Trump visited the border several times. Judd added that himself and other agents are not partisan and that the Trump administration simply managed the border more effectively.
Meth, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl…
Border Patrol Union President Brandon Judd: “Nobody Has Done Worse On Border Security” Than Biden – YouTube https://t.co/lFs7APT7tu
— Gaberz_3.0 (@G_lame3) April 26, 2021
He said that the United States is facing a surge in illegal crossings and drug trafficking because the current administration reversed the former president’s border actions. Judd said that reinstating the “migration protection protocols” will stop the ongoing issue at the border. He said:
“This is something that we have never seen before. Almost 24 years in the Border Patrol going out and patrolling the border I have never seen anything like this before.”
Judd added:
“President Trump proved how long it would take. It was like a light switch. Bring back the migrant protection protocols and this will end.”
VIDEO – National Border Patrol Council President: The Left Wants to ‘Excuse’ Cartels Abusing Children @GriffJenkins https://t.co/D2Hr3xG3qY
— Grabien (@GrabienMedia) April 17, 2021
The Biden administration continues to deny the crisis at the border and instead emphasizes factors like poverty and climate in Central America. At a recent roundtable, Harris said:
“We are looking at extensive storm damage because of extreme climate, we’re looking at drought in an area in a region where agriculture is one of the most traditionally important basis for their economy, we’re looking at what’s happening in terms of food scarcity as a result of that and in fact, incredible food insecurity, which we used to call hunger food insecurity.”
Harris herself has still not yet been to the border, but images have emerged showing copies of her children’s book being distributed to unaccompanied children in a migrant shelter in California.
VP Harris still hasn’t visited southern border, but migrant children receive Harris’ children’s book in welcome kits in CA
April 25th, 2021
LONG BEACH, CA– According to reports, unaccompanied migrant kids brought from the U.S.-Mexico border to a new shelter in Long Beach, CA will be given a copy of Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2019 children’s book, “Superheroes are Everywhere” in their welcome kits.
"We're Making Progress" – Kamala Harris Sounds Like an Unprepared High School Student When Asked About the Border Crisis (VIDEO) https://t.co/et6P6CpRrd via @gatewaypundit
— J. Metz (@Metz1245John) April 25, 2021
Yet, Vice President Harris has not been to the border to address a serious crisis that she was specifically tasked to help fix. Instead, a children’s book she wrote is waiting there for the young migrant children who are being welcomed into the country.
Harris has no plans to visit the southern border where minors are being held before making their wait to California. Instead, Harris spent time at the Canadian border, in New Hampshire, peddling President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package. New Hampshire GOP tweeted:
“Welcome to the #WrongBorder, @VP @KamalaHarris! As you travel over 2,300 miles away from El Paso, our country would be better served with an official visit to our southern border, not a campaign trip @Maggie_Hassan.”
New Hampshire GOP Chairman Stephen Stepanek said:
“Vice President Kamala Harris would serve our nation better by tackling the crisis at our southern border instead of campaigning with Maggie Hassan near our norther border.”
Democrats Missing In Action,
Kamala Harris has gone 32 days without a news conference since being tapped for border crisis role https://t.co/v6nzIWGiU5 #FoxNews
— Al (@Al01619246) April 25, 2021
The children’s book being sent to the CA shelter is just the latest open-arms gesture by the Biden administration, whose mixed messaging regarding the border and immigration has been credited with the surge from Central American to the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the 30 days since President Biden asked Harris to lead the U.S. response to the record surge in migrants, she has yet to visit the border or hold a press conference on the matter. The administration has emphasized that she is addressing only the “root causes” that lead people to flee Central America, not the actually surge itself.
The GOP has declared Harris the nation’s “border czar” and has criticized her for failing to visit the border in the month since Biden named her as the one in charge. In a recent tweet, Republicans of the House Judiciary Committee wrote:
“Today would be a good day for Vice President Harris to visit the southern border.”
Report: Migrant Minors Receive @KamalaHarris’s Children’s Book in Welcome Kits https://t.co/RDlKJ9zaxH
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 25, 2021
Ranking member of the House Judiciary GOP, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, also wrote on his Twitter account:
“Vice President Kamala Harris visited North Carolina yesterday. She’s set to visit New Hampshire on Friday. When’s the ‘border czar’ going to visit the southern border?”
On April 17th, Republican Representative Andy Biggs, of Arizona tweeted:
“Day 24: still no border visit by Kamala Harris. This is no longer an act of incompetence, this is willfully executed.”
At a new conference on immigration, Republican Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana said:
“If she’s the vice president of the United States and the president put her in charge of this, Vice President Harris needs to go down to the border and see this for herself. Because maybe she would then encourage President Biden to reverse his policies that have failed.”
Kamala Harris says there's 'no quick fix' to border crisis — but STILL won't take trip to the border https://t.co/llCqcC9XTz
— José Ramón Lorenzo d (@JosRamnLorenzo1) April 25, 2021
Reportedly, a White House official told CBS News that Harris’ team is working on planning her first trip but added:
“We are also being mindful that we just announced the American Jobs Plan and we’re doing multiple things at one time.”
In her book, Harris tells kids in the book:
“Whenever there’s trouble, superheroes show up just in time.”
The book is sitting on a cot with more basic supplies at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, which has been newly-converted to deal with the spiraling illegal immigration influx.
Rep. Steve Scalise accuses Biden and Harris of ‘child abuse’ as countless kids packed into cages, sleeping on floors
April 14th, 2021
WASHINGTON D.C.– When former President Donald Trump was in office, the left, and almost every major media outlet tore him apart every chance they could when it came to “locking children in cages”.
They made him out to be a villain, and the drama revolving round it, especially the fake tears coming from AOC’s “photo shoot” were Oscar worthy.
Now that Democratic President Joe Biden is in office, and immigrants are flooding the borders in unprecedented numbers, no one on the left or in the media seem to think that the hundreds of children packed into “cages” and sleeping on floors with nothing more than a blanket is perfectly acceptable.
Where is the media outrage. The hypocrites at #ABC #CBS #NBC , let’s forget cnn! They gave up on honesty a long time ago.
GOP Whip Steve Scalise Shares Footage of ‘Child Abuse’ from Migrant Processing Facility https://t.co/OYEjiblg7p
— SCK (@pacasandrs) April 11, 2021
However, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), and several other Republicans do have a serious problem with this, and are beginning to speak up.
Scalise recently shared footage of hundreds of migrant children being packed together in a processing facility, calling it “child abuse.”
🚨 I visited the Donna processing facility yesterday.
These are the videos Joe Biden & Kamala Harris don't want you to see.
This is the devastating result of their disastrous left-wing immigration agenda.
RT so everyone can see what they’re trying to hide. This is child abuse. pic.twitter.com/7y7sQp50Pn
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) April 10, 2021
Scalise tweeted:
“These are the videos Joe Biden & Kamala Harris don’t want you to see. This is the devastating result of their disastrous left-wing immigration agenda,”
The tweet continued:
“RT so everyone can see what they’re trying to hide. This is child abuse.”
A group of ten lawmakers, who were led by Scalise, conducted a ten-day tour of the border region.
WJTV reported that during their visit, they saw an overcrowded migrant processing tent facility, visited the border wall, and met with Border Patrol leaders. Their visit ended with a boat tour on the Rio Grande near Mission, Texas.
Scalise also shared another video of himself at the border at night, slamming President Joe Biden’s “disastrous amnesty agenda.”
Steve Scalise accuses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris of child abuse.https://t.co/rRgQ5wKsvg
— David J Harris Jr (@DavidJHarrisJr) April 13, 2021
Scalise tweeted out a video where he referred to the illegal aliens who crossed the border into the U.S. and were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol, saying:
“We’ve only been here less than an hour, and we’ve already seen multiple encounters of people coming across,”
Scalise tweeted in the caption:
“This is out of control. It’s the middle of the night. We’ve seen dozens of children flow freely across the border in just the past few minutes.
“This is the reality of Joe Biden’s disastrous amnesty agenda,”
🚨🚨 LIVE from the border:
This is out of control. It’s the middle of the night. We’ve seen dozens of children flow freely across the border in just the past few minutes.
This is the reality of Joe Biden’s disastrous amnesty agenda. pic.twitter.com/kPCPAclpvd
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) April 9, 2021
Breitbart reported that Biden recently named Vice President Kamala Harris the “border czar” after Roberta Jacobson said she was stepping down from her post in April. Since then, Harris has come under fire for taking trips to places such as Chicago while ignoring the crisis at the border.
The White House has defended her trips, saying that Harris was focusing on solving the causes of migration from countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador instead of focusing directly on the U.S. Southern border.
On Thursday, April 8th, Scalise appeared on Fox & Friends where he addressed Harris’s evasion of the Southern border, saying:
“You can see why Vice President Kamala Harris either doesn’t want to have this dumped in our lap because Joe Biden created the mess and is asking her to mop it up, or else she’s in over her head. Either way, it doesn’t bode well for the United States,”
Hundreds of sheriffs call on Biden to complete border wall, stop ‘gangs, guns, dangerous drugs’ from entering America
April 11, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC – The Biden administration came under fire from the nation’s sheriffs on Wednesday for failing to control the ongoing border crisis. Hundreds of sheriffs from dozens of states sent a letter to the President pushing him to change course.
The letter, signed by 275 sheriffs from 39 states warned the President of dangerous repercussions if he continued to allow illegal immigrants to flow into the country. The letter, released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, read:
“America’s Sheriffs are deeply troubled about the dangerous impacts your administration’s border policies are having on our citizens, legal residents, and communities.
You must act now before our nation’s public safety resources are overwhelmed with the criminal side effects of unchecked illegal immigration, including transnational gangs, guns, dangerous drugs, and human trafficking.”
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported record numbers of illegal immigrants taken into custody at the US-Mexico border. A CBP report released last week showed that 172,331 people were taken into custody trying to enter the country illegally over the southern border in March.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference last week to address the overcrowding in detention facilities and accusations that child abuse and neglect of children was happening inside those facilities.
The Governor said the Biden administration’s failed immigration policy was causing the problems:
“Earlier today, The Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services separately received tips that allege child abuse and neglect at the federal government’s Child and Migrant facility at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio behind me.
“These problems are a by-product of President Biden’s open border policies and the lack of planning for the fallout from those disastrous policies.”
In the letter, the sheriffs address the crime associated with the flow of illegals entering the country:
“As this situation continues to evolve, more families will be exposed to the violence associated with drug trafficking and transnational gangs.
More parents will suffer the loss of their children, not because they were irresponsible, but because of exposure to criminal illegal alien violence caused by the reckless and irresponsible policies of your administration.
“In a myriad of ways, you and your administration are encouraging and sanctioning lawlessness and the victimization of the people of the United States of America, all in the name of mass illegal immigration.”
The sheriffs did not mince words when appointing blame for the crisis. President Biden’s promises of immigration leniency and reduced immigration enforcement orders are to blame, according to the letter:
“In the interests of ending the undermining of our laws and the increased risks to the safety and security of the people of the United States of America, we respectfully request that you immediately reverse course on your pro-illegal immigration policies, resume the border wall construction, and embrace the common-sense, public-safety-supporting border policies of the previous administration.”
The Biden administration may be listening to some of the criticism coming from law enforcement and members of the right, as some of his policies are taking a step back. For example, the administration is considering a restart of border wall construction on a limited basis.
In a conversation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the administration was considering finishing “gaps in the wall.” According to notes from the ICE session, Mayorkas said:
“It’s not a single answer to a single question. There are different projects that the chief of the Border Patrol has presented and the acting commissioner of CBP presented to me. The president has communicated quite clearly his decision that the emergency that triggered the devotion of DOD funds to the construction of the border wall is ended.
“But that leaves room to make decisions as the administration, as part of the administration, in particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished.”
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