Danny Trejo says he is not pro-ICE amid Pawn Shop backlash

Danny Trejo said on Friday that he is “pro-immigrant” and not “pro-ICE,” answering critics of his role in Pawn Shop, a Daily Wire film shooting in Livingston, Montana.

The Los Angeles-born Mexican-American actor posted the statement on social media, and it marks his first public response since the backlash began, according to Variety, which reports that he gave the comments to TMZ. His representative confirmed the words were his but declined to say anything more.

What Trejo actually said

“Make no mistake. I am 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.”

Danny Trejo, actor

He went on to frame the job as a matter of craft rather than conviction: “I know where I come from and I know our struggles. I am an actor. My job is to tell a story.”

TMZ also reported that Trejo had told people on set what attracted him to the part: he saw it as a positive portrayal of a Latino man who is also a military veteran. In the film, Harvey Keitel plays another veteran whom Trejo’s character hires to work in the shop.

Why Livingston pushed back

Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend are behind the project, and local residents have been protesting since cameras started rolling in the Montana town. Their grievances were practical as much as political. Residents objected to what they described as blank gunshots, pyrotechnics and a staged car crash carried out without proper notice to nearby homes and businesses. Others complained about the shoot’s effect on the local food bank.

Private security hired by the production became another flashpoint, with locals objecting to guards on public streets near the set. Those complaints led to a pause, followed by a return to work on new terms.

1. Last Saturday Production in Livingston is suspended after complaints about the food bank and inadequate warnings over hazardous stunts.
2. Early this week Filming resumes under a revised film permit; the precise day is reported differently by Deadline and Variety.
3. Under the new permit The crew must keep food pantry access open at the Livingston Food Resource Center and shield the public from violent scenes and noise.
4. Alongside the permit The production agrees its security will not police or harass residents on nearby public streets.

A film built on a charged premise

The anger in Livingston is not only about logistics. Several elements of Pawn Shop have drawn attention:

• The opening scene appears to restage ICE’s fatal shooting of Renée Good in Minnesota in January; TMZ captured one such scene on video.
• The story is set in Minneapolis and follows a young federal agent who ends up trapped inside a pawn shop with a Hispanic man and his progressive, college-age relative, described as a son in one synopsis and a grandson in another.
• Shapiro’s response to the suspension was to call it “a violation of the First Amendment” and, per Variety, “content discrimination”, while labelling critics “censorious jackasses”.
• The cast pairs Trejo with Harvey Keitel and Henry Thomas, and Rust producer Carter Boehm sits on the production team.

Labor questions follow Bonfire Legend

Deadline confirmed that Pawn Shop is not operating under an IATSE contract, and that it holds a “conditional start” status with SAG-AFTRA.

That detail carries weight because of the companies’ last collaboration. Run Hide Fight: Infidels, also from Bonfire Legend and Daily Wire, was picketed by IATSE after crew members walked off the South Carolina shoot over labor disputes.

The same set saw an accident involving Jonathan Majors, in which co-star JC Kilcoyne fell through a window and needed stitches.

Featured image. Source: Pexels. Credit: John Cheathem. License: Pexels License.