President Donald Trump, on June 27, announced he has nominated U.S. Marine veteran and former Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The president noted Schroyer's law enforcement background spans 29 years and includes partnerships with ICE.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Importantly, Lance Schroyer has what it takes to DETAIN AND DEPORT Illegal Alien Criminals, including murder[ers], rapists, and drug traffickers at a rate never seen before!"
Schroyer is currently serving as a senior adviser to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, who has been in office since March.
“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," Mullin said in a statement responding to the president's announcement.
Both Trump and Mullin called for the Senate to quickly confirm Schroyer.
ICE has lacked a Senate-confirmed director since the start of Trump's first term, on Jan. 20, 2017.
David Venturella has been leading the agency in an acting capacity since June 1, after his predecessor, Todd Lyons, stepped down at the end of May for a job in the private sector.
ICE has played a key role in Trump's immigration policy over the past year and a half, and its officers have been called upon to conduct large-scale enforcement operations in several major metropolitan areas. These immigration operations have met with sometimes riotous opposition from demonstrators, leading to tense confrontations.
In January, an ICE officer fatally shot Renée Good during a confrontation during which she allegedly hit the federal agent with her car, as authorities ramped up arrests of illegal immigrants in the Minneapolis area. Federal immigration authorities fatally shot another demonstrator, Alex Pretti, during a confrontation in the Minneapolis area later that same month.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed in February after Democrats refused to support additional funding for the department without reforms to immigration enforcement practices. That shutdown lasted 76 days.
While Mullin has endorsed Trump's immigration policies, he has indicated a desire to find a less confrontational way to enforce them.
“We’re still enforcing immigration laws. We’re still deporting illegals that shouldn’t be here. We’re still going after the worst of the worst—but we’re doing it in a more quiet way,” Mullin said in an interview with CNBC in April.