Danny Trejo says he’s not pro-ICE amid backlash over Daily Wire movie

Danny Trejo says he does not support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after facing criticism over his role in Pawn Shop, an upcoming film from Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire, a conservative media company, and Dallas Sonnier's Bonfire Legend.

In a statement posted on X on Friday, Trejo described himself as "a proud Mexican who has always been and will always be a supporter of my community."

"I am also obviously, pro immigrant. I am not pro ICE," he wrote. "I know where I come from and I know our struggles."

According to The Daily Wire, the film follows an ICE officer struggling to survive after his partner is seriously injured, who finds shelter in a local pawn shop with a Hispanic father and his college-age son. Michael Polish directs, and the cast includes Harvey Keitel and Henry Thomas.

TheWrap, citing TMZ, reported that Trejo plays the pawn shop's owner and was drawn to the role as a positive depiction of a Latino character and a veteran. His casting nevertheless drew criticism over the film's portrayal of immigration enforcement.

Filming in Livingston, Montana, was interrupted when the city commission temporarily paused the production's permit at an emergency meeting. Residents said they hadn't been told about blank gunfire and explosions, and raised concerns about armed private security closing streets and blocked access to a food bank, the Associated Press reported. The commission reinstated the permit on October 5. Shapiro called the pause "politics, pure and simple," and The Daily Wire announced on October 9 that it had wrapped production.

Trejo's son, Gilbert, has also defended his father. In an Instagram Story reported by Variety, he said the cast learned of Shapiro's involvement about two weeks into shooting.

"I am an actor. My job is to tell a story," Trejo wrote in his statement.