Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has withdrawn his name as President Biden’s nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The nomination had been dogged by accusations of domestic violence and Sheriff Gonzalez’s forthrightness in handling them.
“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,” Sheriff Gonzalez wrote Monday evening on Twitter.
1/5 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.
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) June 27, 2022
“I arrived at this decision after prayerfully considering what’s best for our nation, my family, and the people of Harris County who elected me to serve a second term as Sheriff,” he wrote, also noting over a series of five tweets that ICE “has not had a Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration.”
The domestic-violence allegation, first reported in March by The Washington Times, was raised in a police officer’s affidavit filed in a tangential sexual harassment lawsuit in Texas.