Gina Hinojosa Wants to Sound Moderate. Her ICE Record Says Otherwise.

After former President Joe Biden opened the southern border for four years, voters already proved they are ready to move on. It seems Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa never got the memo—but that didn’t stop her from vying for governor.

Hinojosa is a Democrat, challenging three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for office. An October poll suggested the governor’s race could be tighter than in the past, with Abbott leading by just 1%.

That could explain why, in a late-September interview with Politico, Hinojosa apparently tried to appeal to moderates by criticizing Biden’s border policy.

“Biden’s problem is he didn’t lead on immigration,” she said. “He was silent mostly. He hid from it. And that did hurt us last election cycle. We need leaders who will do the hard work, roll up their sleeves to figure out solutions.”

This is a stark contrast from 2021, when Hinojosa actually praised the Biden administration’s management of the border.

“Trump created chaos at border,” Hinojosa posted at the time. “Joe Biden is restoring order & humanity.”

Under Biden’s administration, Customs and Border Protection recorded 11 million total border encounters, and at least 2 million “known gotaways.” Texas had to stand down federal authorities from opening its southern border. 

Hinojosa’s legislative record reveals an agenda that is perhaps even more extreme. 

As recently as 2025, Hinojosa voted against creating a Homeland Security Division in the Texas Department of Public Safety. And in 2023, she voted against a bill to build the Texas border wall and pay law enforcement. The same year, she opposed a bill making it a criminal offense in state law to illegally enter Texas from another country, and she opposed a bill to raise criminal penalties for human smuggling and running a stash house. As far back as 2017, Hinojosa voted against banning sanctuary cities in Texas. 

“Gina has shown Texans exactly where she stands. Plain and simple, she is lying to get elected,” Eduardo Leal, Abbott’s campaign press secretary, told the Daily Signal. “Texans cannot trust her to keep their communities safe.” 

The Daily Signal asked Hinojosa’s campaign if she supports enforcing federal immigration law and deporting illegal aliens, but did not hear back in time for publication.

When asked in the recent interview if she thinks Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished, as many Democrats support, Hinojosa refused to answer directly.

“That is not something that a governor has any say over,” she said. “It’s not something I have considered. What I will say is what is happening is unacceptable.”

Hinojosa also villainized ICE for the case of Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, an illegal alien who was shot while resisting arrest.

“We don’t treat murderers that way,” she said. “I have never seen in America, in modern-day America, a man be treated this way where he’s shot by law enforcement and left to squirm in pain on the floor of a detention cell.”

She failed to mention the inconvenient details. According to prosecutors, ICE agents found Garcés Pérez had a final removal order, tried to stop him, and told him to exit his vehicle. This is when he struck an officer with his vehicle’s side mirror, tried to flee, then started driving toward an ICE officer who shot him.

Garcés Pérez is now charged with assaulting and resisting a federal officer. And, according to the Department of Homeland Security, Garcés Pérez did in fact receive medical care, including pain medicine, and slept on a bed in the detention center.

The facts didn’t stop Hinojosa from fear-mongering about ICE.

“I got asked yesterday: Are you afraid as a Latina driving around Texas that you could be stopped by these agents and taken?” she said. “I’ve thought about that. And really, we should all be afraid.”

Texas will always face border-state challenges: from cartels and gangs, to drug and human trafficking. This does not mean its leaders should acquiesce. Instead, it underscores the importance of strong leaders who can shield Texas communities—including in Hinojosa’s own Rio Grande Valley—from violent crime.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

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