USA · 17 September, 2026 · 2 min read
White House Withdraws Lance Schroyer Nomination to Lead ICE After Rand Paul Stalls
White House withdraws Lance Schroyer's nomination to lead ICE. Rand Paul blocked confirmation, delaying hearings; nomination withdrawn amid opposition.
Why the nomination was pulled.
10 of 12 outlets skipped it: schroyer helped train Oklahoma troopers and was deputized to make ICE arrests.
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NBC News
“The White House did not say in the notice why Schroyer’s nomination was withdrawn.”Read the original ↗
POLITICO
“Schroyer’s nomination stalled after Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul”Read the original ↗
Some outlets stress no stated reason; others strongly tie the stall to Paul’s questions.
ICE nominee withdrawn
The White House withdrew President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), former Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer, according to a notice published Thursday.
“The White House is pulling former Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer’s stalled nomination”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had chosen Schroyer after his first proposed pick for the role caused friction with some White House officials, and Mullin called Schroyer a “good friend of mine” at a National Sheriffs’ Association event this year.
CBS News reported that Republican Sen. Rand Paul stalled Schroyer’s advancement as he demanded details of investigations into agent-involved shootings in Minnesota, and Schroyer “didn’t make it past the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.”
ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017, and David Venturella was performing the duties of ICE director after Todd Lyons announced his departure from the top ICE role in April.
Paul’s information demands
CNN said it was unclear why the nomination was pulled, but it had already faced steep challenges in the Senate where Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul had yet to schedule a confirmation hearing.
Politico reported that Schroyer’s nomination stalled after Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) requested that the Department of Homeland Security provide his committee with more information about its investigation into two ICE and Border Patrol agents accused of killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.P
NBC News said Paul blocked the confirmation hearing because he was unsatisfied with how much information he obtained from the White House about the shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota by federal agents.N
A spokesperson for Paul told Politico that the senator “has not expressed opposition to the nominee,” even as the nomination’s withdrawal continued to leave the agency without a confirmed leader at the top.
What happens next
With Schroyer’s nomination withdrawn, ICE leadership remained in acting hands, with David Venturella currently performing the duties of ICE director after Todd Lyons announced his departure in April.
“Now, the clock starts ticking on a 210 day limit for his tenure”
Politico said the agency’s streak of not having a confirmed leader at the top ranks will continue, and it described a “210 day limit” for Venturella’s tenure unless someone else is nominated.P
The Washington Post reported that the White House withdrew Schroyer’s nomination “without explanation,” less than three months after President Donald Trump selected him to run the agency at the front of his mass deportation campaign.
Time reported that Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan urged Paul to bring Mullin and Venturella before the committee, saying, “we now have an agency that has been engaging in increasingly questionable and escalatory behavior and refuses to be transparent and accountable to the American people.”