The White House officially withdrew the nomination of Lance Schroyer to head U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday, September 17, 2026. This decision comes less than three months after President Donald Trump initially selected Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and an ally of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to lead the agency central to the administration's mass deportation campaign. The White House did not provide an official explanation for the withdrawal.
Schroyer's nomination had faced significant hurdles and stalled in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the committee, had pressed the Department of Homeland Security for more information regarding deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in January, which contributed to the delay. Critics from both sides of the political spectrum had also raised concerns about Schroyer's qualifications for the role.
ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director in over a decade, with the last confirmed director serving until 2017. Following the departure of former acting ICE Director Todd Lyons in April, David Venturella, a former private prisons executive, has been serving as the senior official performing the duties of ICE director. The agency, which has a budget exceeding $75 billion, is a focal point of the president's second-term deportation push and has been provided significant resources by the Republican-controlled Congress to carry out the administration's agenda.
