White House pulls ICE director nominee after Senate stall over agent shootings

The White House has withdrawn its nomination of Lance Schroyer to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ending a three-month bid that never reached a Senate hearing and leaving the agency without a confirmed director since 2017.

A notice published Thursday on the White House website announced the withdrawal without explanation. The move came after Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., declined to schedule a confirmation hearing, according to NBC News — not because Paul opposed Schroyer personally, his office said, but because he was unsatisfied with the information he had received from the White House about the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minnesota.

Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state highway trooper, was serving as a senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin — and had previously been part of Mullin's Senate security detail — when President Trump announced his nomination in June. Mullin, who knew Schroyer from his time in the Senate, was his top backer for the role.

Lance has firsthand experience getting Illegal Aliens OFF our streets and, just like ME and our Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, he LOVES the men and women of ICE.— Donald Trump, President

Critics and some DHS officials were skeptical from the start. Schroyer has decades of experience in local law enforcement in Oklahoma but no formal background working within ICE. According to Axios, his limited immigration credentials created tension between Mullin and border czar Tom Homan, as well as other figures aligned with the MAGA wing of the party. Unnamed DHS employees told Politico in August they did not want Schroyer to take over and implement changes.

The Minnesota shootings that stalled Paul's committee action involved the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37-year-old U.S. citizens, during ICE operations earlier this year, according to The Guardian. The incidents intensified scrutiny of the agency at a moment when ICE officers had already drawn backlash for conducting sweeping arrests in cities across the country, often in face coverings and discreet clothing.

Todd Lyons, who was acting ICE director during that period, faced criticism for refusing to apologize to the families of Good and Pretti and left his position in April or May. David Venturella has since been serving as the senior official performing the duties of ICE director and, according to an ICE spokesperson, is expected to remain in that role for the time being.

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017. The agency has operated under a succession of acting directors through both the Biden and Trump administrations. Whether the White House plans to put forward a new nominee — and who that might be — remains unclear.

Why it matters — ICE — the agency at the center of Trump's immigration enforcement push — has now gone eight years without a Senate-confirmed director, and the collapse of Schroyer's nomination exposes both internal administration divisions and a Republican senator's willingness to use the confirmation process to demand accountability for the deaths of U.S. citizens.

Sources differ on Schroyer's first name: Lance Schroyer (axios.com) vs Lance Schroyer (theguardian.com) vs Lance Schroyer (nbcnews.com) vs Richard Schroyer (cbsnews.com)

Reported by axios.com, theguardian.com, nbcnews.com, cbsnews.com, politico.com