The White House has pulled its own nominee to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement less than three months after announcing him—leaving one of the most consequential agencies in President Donald Trump’s immigration campaign without a Senate-confirmed director.
A White House notice dated September 17, 2026, formally withdrew Richard Schroyer’s nomination to serve as an assistant secretary of Homeland Security, the position that oversees ICE. The administration gave no explanation in the notice.
Schroyer, who goes by Lance, is a former Oklahoma state trooper and a former adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. His nomination never reached a confirmation hearing.
A nomination ends before the hearing begins
Trump announced Richard “Lance” Schroyer as his ICE choice in late June and urged the Senate to confirm him. By Thursday, September 17, the nomination was over before senators had publicly questioned him in a confirmation hearing.
The Associated Press reported that Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, had declined to schedule a hearing while seeking information about internal investigations of fatal federal operations in Minnesota. Those operations resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens and intensified scrutiny of ICE’s tactics and leadership.
The White House did not say whether that dispute caused the withdrawal. It also did not identify a replacement.
Why Schroyer’s experience became part of the story
Schroyer spent nearly three decades in Oklahoma law enforcement, but he had no formal experience working at ICE. His relationship with Mullin also received attention: Schroyer previously worked on Mullin’s security detail when Mullin served in the Senate and later became one of his advisers.
That background gave Schroyer broad law-enforcement experience, but critics questioned whether it prepared him to run a sprawling federal agency responsible for immigration arrests, detention, deportation and complex cross-border investigations. The Guardian reported that some Homeland Security officials had expressed skepticism about the choice and that the nomination had stalled in the Senate.
The withdrawal does not resolve those questions. It simply removes Schroyer from consideration and sends the administration back to the search for another nominee.
ICE keeps operating without a confirmed director
ICE has gone years without a Senate-confirmed leader. AP reported that the agency has not had one since the Obama administration, while a succession of acting officials has overseen shifting enforcement priorities and periodic leadership turmoil.
David Venturella is now serving as acting director. He can continue running the agency while the White House decides whether to nominate someone else, but an acting chief does not go through the same public Senate confirmation process that a permanent nominee would face.
That distinction matters because ICE is operating at the center of a politically charged expansion. According to AP, the agency recorded nearly 51,000 arrests in August, the highest monthly figure of Trump’s second term. The enforcement surge has unfolded alongside congressional questions, protests and investigations into agents’ use of force.
The vacancy does not pause immigration enforcement
The leadership setback is unlikely to slow day-to-day operations. ICE officers will continue making arrests, running detention facilities and carrying out removals under directives from the Department of Homeland Security and the White House.
But the failed nomination exposes a gap between operational speed and political accountability. The administration has made aggressive immigration enforcement one of its defining priorities, yet the agency carrying out much of that agenda still lacks a permanent leader who has won Senate approval.
A new nominee would need to be formally submitted, reviewed by the Senate committee and confirmed by the full chamber. That process can take weeks or months even when a nominee has broad support—and longer when senators demand records or challenge the candidate’s qualifications.
What to watch next
The immediate question is whether Trump will name another candidate quickly or leave Venturella in place through the remainder of the year. A second choice could face the same demands for information that stalled Schroyer’s hearing, especially as lawmakers examine ICE operations in Minnesota and elsewhere.
For now, the only definitive action is the withdrawal itself. The White House has ended Schroyer’s path to the job, but it has not ended the larger leadership problem: ICE remains powerful, highly visible and without a Senate-confirmed director.
