Gonzales, Once a Skeptic of the G.O.P.’s Hard Immigration Line, Becomes a Champion

When Speaker Mike Johnson and scores of House Republicans converged in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Wednesday to call for a crackdown on migrants at the border, they had a somewhat unlikely host.

It was only months ago that Representative Tony Gonzales, the Texas Republican who represents the busy border crossing and the majority-Hispanic district that surrounds it, broke with his party in opposition to its hard-line approach on immigration. Back then, he warned his colleagues against an overly draconian approach and urged them not to politicize the issue.

Now Mr. Gonzales, who has faced a constituent backlash and multiple primary opponents in his competitive district, has swung into line with the zeal of a convert, becoming a chief champion of Republicans’ strict border enforcement bill and a proponent of efforts to use it as political leverage against President Biden.

He has endorsed calls to make border security improvements a precondition of securing military aid for Ukraine and keeping the federal government open. And he has been working closely with Mr. Johnson to maintain pressure on the rest of Congress to embrace the House G.O.P.’s hard line.

It is hardly surprising that Mr. Gonzales, a second-term congressman in a swing district, would play an active role in immigration policy debates. His congressional district, Texas’ 23rd, includes the longest stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and contains the entirety of the Del Rio sector along the Rio Grande, which consistently ranks among the busiest for Border Patrol encounters with migrants attempting unlawful entry.

In his few years in office, Mr. Gonzales has hosted several delegations of lawmakers for fact-finding trips along his stretch of the border, including two speakers