President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will appoint Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, as the next director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency charged with enforcing his mass deportation agenda. As usual, the president made the announcement on his social network Truth, posting that Schroyer is “a PATRIOT with real operational experience, and proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst.”
“ Lance has firsthand experience getting Illegal Aliens OFF our streets and, just like ME and our Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, he LOVES the men and women of ICE. And most importantly, Lance Schroyer has what it takes to STOP AND DEPORT criminal illegal immigrants, including murders [sic], rapists and drug traffickers, at a rate never seen before!!” Trump wrote.
As the president himself notes in his post, Schroyer has more than 29 years of law enforcement experience in Oklahoma and is a former U.S. Marine. Although he has little experience in national politics and had never worked at ICE until recently, Schroyer is from the same state as Secretary Mullin, who took office in March. Earlier this month, Mullin invited Schroyer onto the stage at a National Sheriffs’ Association event, called him “a good friend” and said the Department of Homeland Security had recently hired him.
According to a statement published this weekend by the Department of Homeland Security, Schroyer currently serves as Mullin’s senior adviser, a role in which he “oversees strategic coordination of immigration enforcement and acts as a liaison between local, regional and federal law-enforcement agencies.”
Mullin himself praised the appointment. “President Trump made a great pick, and I’m confident Lance’s strong leadership and firsthand experience will empower the men and women of ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens, secure the homeland, and protect the American people,” he wrote on his X account.
Both Trump and Mullin praised the fact that Schroyer has led initiatives under the 287(g) program, as the collaboration agreements between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities are known. Those pacts have surged under Trump’s administration, quickly becoming a cornerstone of his immigration policy. If there were 139 such agreements nationwide at the end of Joe Biden’s term, there are now 1,986 across 39 states.
After announcing the appointment, President Trump urged the Senate to swiftly confirm Schroyer, who, if the president’s demands are met, would be the first ICE director confirmed by the Senate since 2017.
If confirmed, Schroyer will lead ICE at a moment when public opinion has turned against Trump’s hardline immigration policy, which has been marked by unprecedented enforcement. His goal is to carry out the largest deportation campaign in history, and to that end he has deployed thousands of federal agents to several U.S. cities, increased the number and scope of raids and undermined legal programs that protected hundreds of thousands of migrants from removal. His methods have often sparked massive protests, such as those in Minnesota earlier this year, where two U.S. citizens died from shots fired by agents deployed in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
After the two deaths, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was fired by Trump, and Mullin assumed responsibility for the department that oversees ICE. Mullin has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has shown signs of adopting a more measured tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president’s priorities on mass deportations. With Schroyer as head of the immigration police, experts agree Mullin sought someone he could trust.
Schroyer’s appointment follows the resignation of former ICE acting director Todd Lyons in late May. In May, Trump named David Venturella, a former career ICE official, to serve as acting director. Venturella will remain acting director until Schroyer’s nomination is confirmed.
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