The White House said it is sticking behind its pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid a new controversy involving a months-old domestic violence allegation.
Ed Gonzalez, sheriff of Harris County, Texas, had been poised for confirmation by the Senate this week, but Democrats abruptly canceled a series of votes Tuesday evening after Republicans said they wanted time to examine the facts.
The allegation, first reported Monday by The Washington Times, was raised in a police officer’s affidavit filed in a tangential sexual harassment lawsuit in Texas. The officer said he responded to the Gonzalez residence, where the sheriff’s wife, Melissa Gonzalez, indicated her husband had become “physical or violent” with her when he learned she was having an affair with a supervisor.
The White House called the accusation “a transparent effort to attack an incredibly qualified nominee.”
“He has a proven track record of implementing progressive solutions to difficult problems, while coordinating with federal partners, including ICE, to make Harris County, Texas, safer, and he should be confirmed without delay,” an official said.
The White House also released a statement from Mrs. Gonzalez saying she never filed a complaint against her husband.
“To be clear, the assertions referenced in the affidavit, as they relate to me, my husband or my marriage, are completely false,” she said.
The sheriff also has denied the allegation.
“It’s false, it’s all politics,” he told Houston television station CW39.
The affidavit was filed in court in late July, months after President Biden nominated Sheriff Gonzalez to lead ICE and just days before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on the pick.
Committee members have indicated they were not aware of the allegation until this week.
Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who had called for the vote delay, said the panel now has time to figure out what’s going on.
“We need to get this right & sorted out before any vote,” he said on Twitter Tuesday night.
Chris Crane, director of the Federal Police Foundation and president of the National ICE Council, which represents ICE officers, had brought the allegation to the attention of members of Congress.
“Cancelling the vote today was the right thing to do, but we are strongly urging the committee to conduct a full investigation before the ICE director nomination is scheduled for another vote,” Mr. Crane told The Times on Tuesday. “Sending ICE a director that hasn’t been cleared of a domestic violence charge is not an option.”
According to the affidavit by Fredrick Portis, at the time a police officer at Houston Community College, he was called to the Gonzalez residence, where he met Mrs. Gonzalez and the college’s chancellor, Cesar Maldonado.
“The chancellor spoke up and said that Mrs. Gonzalez wanted to file a complaint against her husband, Sheriff Gonzalez, because of suggested violence she had experienced at her home at the hands of the sheriff,” the officer recounted.
The officer said the gist of the complaint was “the sheriff allegedly becoming physical or violent with Mrs. Gonzalez because of her romantic relationship with the chancellor.”
He said he filed an investigative report with the college police chief, then never heard anything more.
The Houston Chronicle, the sheriff’s hometown newspaper, reported this week that “local journalists investigated the allegation when it surfaced last summer and none published stories.”
The paper also reported Tuesday that Mrs. Gonzalez denied she had ever spoken with the officer.
The officer, in the affidavit, said there was body cam video of his encounter.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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