President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will nominate Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to serve as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Biden also said he was tapping another Texan, Gina Ortiz Jones, to be under secretary of the Air Force. Jones is a former Air Force intelligence officer who twice ran as a Democrat for one of Texas' most competitive congressional districts.
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Both positions are subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
As head of ICE, Gonzalez would help oversee one of the most contentious parts of Biden's agenda: enforcing U.S. immigration law. Biden has promised to unwind much of predecessor Donald Trump's hardline border policies.
Gonzalez is a former Houston police officer who served on the City Council before first getting elected sheriff in 2016. He won a second four-year term in 2020.
Jones would be the No. 2 civilian leader of the Air Force as under secretary. Defense News, which first reported Biden's plan to nominate Jones, a Filipino American, said she would be the first woman of color to serve in the position.
Jones also is a member of the LGBT community and served in the Air Force under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." After her time in the Air Force, Jones went to work for the Defense Intelligence Agency and later the office of the U.S. trade representative. She ran against U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, in 2018 and lost by less than 1,000 votes. She made a second bid for the seat last year, when Hurd did not seek reelection, and lost by a wider margin to Republican Tony Gonzales.
This developing story will be updated soon.