WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday withdrew the nomination of Lance Schroyer to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ending a bid that had stalled in the Senate for nearly three months, according to Reuters.
The withdrawal was announced in a short statement giving no reason, and Schroyer’s name appeared on a White House website list of nomination withdrawals, CNN reported.
Schroyer, 54, is a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol major with 29 years of law enforcement experience. He is currently serving as special adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, having previously led Mullin’s Senate security detail, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump nominated Schroyer on June 27 via a Truth Social post urging the Senate to confirm him “IMMEDIATELY,” Reuters reported.
But the nomination never advanced. Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul never scheduled a confirmation hearing for Schroyer. Paul had sought more information on the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation into the shootings of two people by immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year, according to USA Today. A spokesperson for Paul said he “has not expressed opposition to the nominee.”
The withdrawal caught DHS leadership off guard, including Secretary Mullin, who learned of it when the White House announced it, the Wall Street Journal reported. A senior White House official told the Journal the nomination was pulled after it became clear it had stalled in the Senate.
Opposition also came from within the administration’s own orbit. Border czar Tom Homan opposed Schroyer’s selection, the Journal reported, and immigration hardliners doubted the nominee over his lack of immigration-enforcement and large-agency leadership experience.
ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017, according to Reuters. Acting director David Venturella, a former private prison executive, continues in the role after Todd Lyons resigned in May, CNN reported.
The impasse over Schroyer’s nomination centered in part on the Department’s handling of the Minneapolis shootings. Paul pressed for more information about the DHS investigation into the deaths of two people shot by immigration agents earlier this year, and without answers, the chairman never put Schroyer on the committee’s calendar, according to USA Today.
The outcome also reflected resistance from immigration hardliners, who questioned whether Schroyer’s résumé — rooted in state-level law enforcement rather than federal immigration enforcement — was suited to running one of the federal government’s largest law enforcement agencies, the Journal reported.
Schroyer, meanwhile, remains in his current post as Mullin’s special adviser, according to Reuters. The White House has given no indication of who might be nominated next, and its brief withdrawal statement offered no timeline for a replacement pick.
The vacancy at the top of the agency remains one of the most closely watched personnel questions in the administration’s immigration agenda, with no successor named as of Thursday. With nearly a decade now passed since the Senate last confirmed an ICE director, the search for a permanent leader begins again under acting leadership.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, USA Today, Wall Street Journal.
