The handout photo, released on April 20, 2016, shows Lance Schroyer in an unknown location. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would nominate Schroyer to be the next director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol | via Reuters
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will nominate former Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer to be the next director of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
President Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the new candidate for immigration office is a former Marine and “a patriot with real operational experience.” He called Schroyer “a proven leader with decades of experience containing the worst of the worst.”
Schroyer hails from the same state as former Congressman and new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Mullin was quick to praise Schroyer in a statement Saturday, highlighting the former police officer’s 29-year career and work with federal and state partners in America’s immigration enforcement programs.
If confirmed, Mr. Schroyer will lead ICE at a time when public mood over President Trump’s immigration crackdown has soured and he has sent a flood of federal immigration agents to U.S. cities to round up immigrants. The attacks have heightened tensions, sparked clashes between protesters and law enforcement, and led to the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis earlier this year.
President Trump returns to the White House promising mass deportations, and ICE has become the central executor of that vision. The agency has seen significant growth following a one-time $75 billion infusion last year, which allowed it to hire 12,000 officers and increase detention capacity.
Marin, who took over in March, is seen as aligned with the president’s priorities on mass deportations, but has taken a softer tone on immigration, pledging to keep the department out of the headlines.
Former ICE official Claire Trickler McNulty said pre-confirmed ICE directors are often attorneys, but state and local law enforcement officers are also appointed. He said Mullin’s history at Oklahoma State suggests he may have had influence on the nomination.
“I think, probably given the attention he gets at ICE, he wants to feel like there’s someone there that he can trust,” she said in an interview.
Schroyer’s appointment follows the resignation of former ICE Director Todd Lyons at the end of May. David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, is the agency’s acting director. The White House did not respond to questions about whether Mr. Schroyer would become acting secretary immediately or whether Mr. Venturella would continue in an interim role.
ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration, a result of polarized politics surrounding the agency and immigration policy.
