Trump Nominates Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer to Lead ICE Permanently

President Trump announced Saturday on Truth Social that he is nominating Lance Schroyer to serve as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling him a "PATRIOT with real operational experience" and demanding the Senate confirm him "IMMEDIATELY."

Schroyer is a former major at the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, a former Oklahoma state trooper, and a U.S. Marine veteran. According to a Department of Homeland Security statement cited by NPR, he currently serves as senior adviser to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and oversees coordination of immigration enforcement. He had no prior ICE experience before Mullin brought him on board.

If the Senate confirms him, Schroyer would be the agency's first confirmed director since an Obama-era official retired in January 2017. Fox News noted Mullin put that gap at 11 years. Trump's first-term attempt to install Tom Homan, now the White House border czar, as permanent ICE director stalled in the Senate, according to the New York Times.

Who Schroyer Is Replacing

The acting-director slot has been a revolving door in recent months. Todd Lyons resigned as acting director at the end of May, according to NPR. David Venturella, a longtime ICE career official and former executive of a private prison corporation, has been running the agency in an acting capacity since early June. Venturella stays in that role until the Senate confirms Schroyer.

Schroyer's most relevant operational credential, per Trump's Truth Social post, is his work spearheading 287(g) partnerships, the program that allows local and state law enforcement agencies to perform certain immigration enforcement functions alongside federal agents. Mullin echoed that point on X, writing that Schroyer "ran large scale operations and worked alongside state and federal partners to remove illegal aliens from Oklahoma."

Both Mullin and Schroyer are Oklahomans. Trump made sure to mention he carried all 77 Oklahoma counties in 2016, 2020, and 2024.

The Scrutiny ICE Is Already Under

This nomination lands at a fraught moment for the agency. The New York Times reported that ICE agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis earlier this year during the administration's push to accelerate deportations. That incident drew congressional attention and intensified calls for more oversight of the agency.

Schroyer has never worked inside ICE, has no experience managing a federal agency, and rose to the position of Mullin's senior adviser after Mullin himself was confirmed as DHS secretary only in March. Skeptics in the Senate may argue that running 287(g) operations at the state level is a fundamentally different challenge than directing a large federal law enforcement agency with a mission spanning interior enforcement, detention, deportation logistics, and international coordination.

ICE's most chronic problem has not been management theory — it has been operational will. Directors with deep federal résumés have run the agency for years without resolving its persistent dysfunction. Schroyer's 29 years in the field, combined with hands-on 287(g) coordination, gives him direct knowledge of how state-federal enforcement partnerships actually work on the ground. Whether that translates to running a large federal bureaucracy is an open question the confirmation hearings will need to answer.

What Comes Next

Trump's nomination goes to the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority. The administration will be pushing for speed. ICE operating for years without a Senate-confirmed director is itself a structural problem, regardless of which party created it, because acting officials operate with less institutional authority and accountability than confirmed ones.

The Minneapolis shooting that killed two Americans will almost certainly come up in Schroyer's hearing. Fox News cited Trump's claim that his administration has achieved the "highest daily arrest rate by ICE and CBP than ANY other President." That claim has NOT been independently verified by any of the three sources used here.

No confirmation hearing date has been announced as of June 27, 2026.