Harris County (Texas) Sheriff Ed Gonzalez is Joe Biden’s nominee to lead ICE. He testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday. Republican senators questioned his record as sheriff in Houston and rightly so. His testimony of what he anticipates doing as Director of ICE runs contra to what he did in Houston.

To be clear, Gonzalez is on record testifying before the Senate committee that he will not end federal partnerships with local law enforcement agencies that authorize enforcement of immigration laws – the 287(g) program. Such agreements have been in place since 2008 in Harris County. Gonzalez campaigned for county sheriff in 2016 on a pledge to end the program in place in Harris County. He terminated a federal partnership between Harris County and ICE and spent the four years of the Trump administration criticizing Trump’s policies on illegal immigration.

Gonzalez obviously was trying to strike a moderate tone as he was questioned by Republican senators. His record in Harris County is not one of moderation, though.

Gonzalez, who rose to sergeant during an 18-year run at the Houston Police Department, pointedly criticized Trump’s policies when the then-president vowed to deport millions of people.

“I do not support ICE raids that threaten to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom do not represent a threat to the U.S.,” he wrote on Facebook in July 2019. “The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats. Not others who are not threats.”

Gonzalez expressed concern then about driving “undocumented families further into the shadows,” discouraging them from reporting crimes to authorities.

He was nominated in April to be the next ICE director just after Biden announced ICE was limiting arrests at courthouses, replacing a Trump policy that gave immigration authorities wider latitude. Gonzalez’s nomination falls in place with such executive actions from Biden. Gonzalez’s duties would include dealing with drug trafficking and human trafficking on the southern border. When questioned by Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, Gonzalez said he doesn’t buy into stereotypes such as gangs using teenagers to smuggle drugs across the border.

“Isn’t that your experience as Houston’s sheriff,” asked Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

“I’m always mindful of not profiling and developing any stereotypes in my work and so I try to look at the facts,” Gonzalez replied.

When Johnson interjected and said he wasn’t speaking of profiling Gonzalez said, “I’m saying at the end of the day they’re still teenagers. I know that if they’re coming into our country they’re processed through CBP, there’s different screenings that are done.”

They are just teenagers? Sure, just slap them on the wrist and send them off on their merry way. Houston literally has the presence of every gang imaginable and Gonzalez knows it. He’s not some neophyte who isn’t aware of how crime works on the southern border, including drug smuggling as part of gang activity. Are drug cartels run by ‘just men’ looking to earn a living? Once in the position, he’ll justify reverting to the ways of leadership that he enforced in Harris County.

Gonzalez has decades of law enforcement experience and was elected sheriff of Harris County, Texas, in 2016 – overseeing a police force and jail system in the third-most populous county in the U.S., which encompasses the city of Houston.

He has been openly critical of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.

“We can be firm on crimes, we can be firm on enforcement, but we don’t have to lose our compassion and humanity as well,” Gonzalez said at one point during the hearing Thursday.

Gonzalez also notably said he was not “generally in favor” of outsourcing immigration detention to private companies, pointing to allegations of inhumane treatment at some facilities run by third parties.

It is compassionate to enforce immigration laws on the books and keep the southern border secure but that is not how progressives view the Biden border crisis. Keeping legal residents safe is not a priority, open borders do not respect the path that legal immigrants took by following the law. Becoming a legal resident can take years and it is a financial burden, those who cut in line and demand the right to remain in the United States do not respect our country’s sovereignty. Without borders, there is no country.

Republicans on the committee voiced their concerns but Sen. Josh Hawley sounds as though he fell for Gonzalez’s performance. That would be a mistake.

Though some GOP lawmakers on the panel made clear their reservations about Gonzalez, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said after questioning the sheriff that he was “heartened by what I’ve heard so far.”

Progressives were not particularly pleased with Gonzalez’s time before the committee. They took a swipe at the Trump administration’s “racist and anti-immigrant policies” as progressives always conflate illegal immigration with legal immigration.

The American Civil Liberties Union slammed Gonzalez’s performance in a statement following the hearing, calling his remarks “deeply disappointing” and pointing specifically to his unwillingness to end the 287(g) program.

“Gonzalez seemed more interested in placating anti-immigrant politicians on the committee than laying out a vision for reform,” Naureen Shah, ACLU senior policy counsel, said. “This was a huge missed opportunity to make it clear to immigrant families and communities that the Biden administration is truly committed to making a decisive break from the Trump administration’s racist and anti-immigrant policies.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Gonzalez will bend to the most aggressive open border supporters as he did in Harris County. He bends whichever way the political winds blow. In this case, Team Biden has established policies that encourage illegal immigration so Gonzalez will go along to get along, despite his more moderate tone during a confirmation hearing. Republicans are right to be hesitant to support his nomination.