The White House announced on Thursday that it was withdrawing the nomination of Lance Schroyer to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, had been named by President Donald Trump in June as the next director of ICE. His nomination came as a surprise because he had no prior experience working at ICE or leading a major law enforcement organization. The White House did not give a reason for withdrawing the nomination.
The move was part of broader challenges facing the administration’s immigration agenda, which has drawn criticism over enforcement operations, according to NPR. ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since the Obama administration, and the agency continues to face scrutiny for how it handles its enforcement actions. The last Senate-confirmed ICE director left office in January 2017.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul had refused to schedule a hearing on Schroyer’s nomination until more information was provided about civilian deaths during ICE operations. Paul said he did not have concerns about the nominee himself but wanted transparency on past incidents involving ICE enforcement. Paul told The Associated Press that he was still waiting for an update on internal investigations into civilian deaths.
The withdrawal of Schroyer’s nomination came after Senate resistance and growing questions about his qualifications, according to a report from ktnv.com. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had selected Schroyer after his first pick caused tension among White House officials. CNN reported that Schroyer had previously been part of Mullin’s security detail when Mullin served in the Senate.
Mullin, who took over the department in March, had promised a quieter approach to immigration enforcement compared to earlier aggressive tactics. Despite this shift, arrests have continued to rise, reaching nearly 51,000 in August, the highest monthly total since the second Trump administration began. DHS reported that ICE made 50,925 arrests in August compared with 50,208 in July and 43,900 in June.
Rand Paul had intended to hold a hearing on Schroyer’s nomination but never did so, only learning about the withdrawal from the White House announcement. The Associated Press reported that Paul said he learned of the withdrawal when the White House made it public Thursday.
The administration has not yet indicated when it might submit another candidate for the ICE director position. David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison company, had stepped in as acting director earlier this year after Todd Lyons resigned from the role. Venturella previously worked for GEO Group and returned to ICE before taking over the agency on an acting basis.
Schroyer’s nomination was notable for his limited federal immigration experience and lack of experience leading a major federal law enforcement agency, and for being made by Trump on his social media platform Truth Social, Devdiscourse reported. Schroyer nevertheless had extensive state law-enforcement experience. Trump said when announcing the nomination that Schroyer had more than 29 years of law-enforcement experience in Oklahoma and had worked with ICE through the 287(g) partnership program.
IMAGE: Lance Schroyer in 2026. Photo: Department of Homeland Security / Wikimedia, taken 2026-06-27, Public domain.