Trump Taps Former Oklahoma Trooper Lance Schroyer to Lead ICE
The president's nominee would become the first Senate-confirmed director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2017 as the administration accelerates mass deportations.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he is nominating Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to serve as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, elevating a career lawman to lead the agency at the center of the administration's sweeping deportation campaign.
Trump praised Schroyer's 29 years of law enforcement experience and his service as a U.S. Marine, calling him a proven operator "coming straight from the operational field." Schroyer currently serves as senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and previously ran large-scale immigration enforcement operations in Oklahoma under the federal 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local police to enforce immigration law.
If confirmed by the Senate, Schroyer would replace acting ICE Director David Venturella, a veteran whose government immigration career dates to the 1980s. ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017, during Trump's first term — a remarkable leadership vacuum for an agency that has become the tip of the spear in the president's immigration agenda.
The nomination lands at a pivotal moment. The Supreme Court this week handed the administration a pair of major immigration victories, clearing the way to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants and allowing officials to turn away asylum seekers at the southern border. Together the rulings could enable the removal of more than a million people who had been living and working legally in the United States.
Schroyer would inherit an agency that has expanded dramatically in size and budget under Trump, with billions in new funding directed toward detention capacity, deportation flights and the hiring of thousands of additional officers. ICE has carried out high-profile worksite raids and street operations in major cities this year, drawing protests in some communities and praise from immigration hardliners who say the agency is finally enforcing the law.
The 287(g) program Schroyer championed in Oklahoma has expanded sharply nationwide, with hundreds of state and local agencies signing agreements to assist federal immigration enforcement. Proponents argue it acts as a force multiplier for a stretched federal workforce; opponents say it erodes trust between police and immigrant communities and can lead to racial profiling.
Democrats are expected to press Schroyer on detention conditions, due-process protections and the pace of removals during confirmation hearings. With Republicans holding the Senate majority, however, his path to confirmation appears favorable barring unexpected revelations. If installed, he would take the helm of one of the most consequential — and most contested — agencies in the federal government.
Originally reported by CBS News.