White House Withdraws Lance Schroyer's Nomination to Lead ICE After Senator Blocks Hearing

The White House has withdrawn Lance Schroyer's nomination to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, just three months after President Trump named him to the post and without ever giving him a Senate confirmation hearing.

Schroyer is a former Oklahoma state trooper with 29 years of law enforcement experience, most recently serving as a major overseeing the Emergency Services Unit at the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. He had no prior experience at ICE or in immigration enforcement specifically, but had worked with federal partners on 287(g) programs, which deputize local and state officers to help enforce immigration law. At the time of his nomination, he was serving as a senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Trump announced Schroyer's nomination on Truth Social on June 27, saying he had 'firsthand experience getting Illegal Aliens OFF our streets.' Mullin praised the pick the same day, saying Schroyer was 'coming straight from the operational field where he ran large scale operations' and calling him the right choice to help ICE 'deport criminal illegal aliens, secure the homeland, and protect the American people.'

The nomination never got a hearing. Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, declined to schedule one. According to a person familiar with his decision, Paul was withholding a hearing until DHS gave him more information about an internal investigation into the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Paul told reporters, 'I don't have a concern with who the nominee was. I had asked them to give me an update on the internal investigation.'

The White House gave no public explanation for the withdrawal, announced Thursday, September 17. David Venturella, who has been serving as acting ICE director since Todd Lyons resigned from the post earlier this year, is expected to remain in the role for now. It's unclear when or whether the administration will name a new permanent nominee.