Key Takeaways
- Danny Trejo denied supporting ICE after joining the Daily Wire thriller Pawn Shop, declaring, “I am not pro-ICE” and stressing that acting in a film does not equal endorsing its politics.
- Trejo said he took the role for its positive portrayal of a Latino military veteran, while the film follows an ICE agent sheltering with Trejo’s character and his progressive grandson during unrest.
- Livingston, Montana, briefly suspended the production over gunfire, pyrotechnics, road closures, and security complaints before reinstating its permit with tighter restrictions, prompting Ben Shapiro to allege political censorship.
Danny Trejo is pushing back against accusations that he supports ICE for starring in a Ben Shapiro-backed movie about the federal immigration agency. And the Machete star wants critics to know that playing a character in a movie doesn't mean he agrees with its politics.
After facing backlash over his involvement in Pawn Shop, the controversial Daily Wire thriller that recently got temporarily shut down in Montana, Trejo broke his silence with an emphatic denial.
"I am a proud Mexican who has always been and will always be a supporter of my community," Trejo told TMZ. "I am also obviously pro-immigrant. I am not pro-ICE."
The actor, whose Mexican-American heritage and community advocacy have long been central to his public image, wasn't finished.
"I know where I come from and I know our struggles," he added. "I am an actor. My job is to tell a story."
According to TMZ, Trejo told people on set that he accepted the role because it offered a positive portrayal of a Latino military veteran. Harvey Keitel reportedly plays another veteran who works for Trejo's character at the pawn shop.
But while Trejo draws a line between his personal beliefs and his latest project, the movie's premise raises questions of its own.
Produced by Shapiro's Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier's Bonfire Legend, Pawn Shop follows an ICE agent whose partner is killed during unrest in Minneapolis. Pursued by an angry crowd, the agent takes refuge inside a neighborhood pawn shop alongside a Hispanic veteran and his progressive college-age grandson.
The film's official synopsis describes the trio as facing a choice between "the rule of law and the chaos that wants to burn it all down."
The controversy intensified after footage obtained by TMZ appeared to show filmmakers recreating the fatal January shooting of Renée Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. A leaked script also reportedly includes a storyline involving an immigrant who claims innocence before being revealed as an MS-13 operative.
And the production has already made enemies in an unlikely place: Montana.
The Livingston Food Resource Center said road closures and security personnel had made it harder for people to access groceries. Nearby coffee shop owner Taylor Wallace said the situation became so disruptive that he temporarily closed his business.
"Nobody should feel unsafe in their workplace or at their home," Wallace told commissioners.
Shapiro responded by accusing officials of political censorship.
"There's only one reason the city commissioners ruled they were going to stop our production on the street: politics, pure and simple," he declared on The Ben Shapiro Show.
He went further, calling the suspension "content discrimination" and "a violation of the First Amendment."
The accusation came in Montana, a state that voted for Donald Trump in three consecutive presidential elections. City officials, however, said their review concerned public safety and permit compliance, not whether they agreed with the movie's message.
This isn’t the first time a Daily Wire and Bonfire Legend production has run into trouble.
Their previous collaboration, Run Hide Fight: Infidels, starred Jonathan Majors and drew an IATSE picket over labor and safety complaints. Majors and co-star JC Kilcoyne subsequently fell through an unsecured window during filming, leaving Kilcoyne needing stitches.
Sonnier's response to the earlier labor dispute was characteristically confrontational: "We don't negotiate with communists."
