Trump Appoints Hardline Ex-Trooper Lance Schroyer to Lead Controversial ICE Agency
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President Donald Trump has nominated Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and Marine Corps veteran with a history in aggressive law enforcement, to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency widely criticized for its harsh treatment of immigrants.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced his choice of Lance Schroyer to become the next director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a move that signals a continued embrace of hardline immigration policies. Schroyer, whose nearly three decades in Oklahoma law enforcement include time as a state trooper and major in the Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Services Unit, has a background steeped in militarized policing. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is currently a senior advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, another proponent of punitive immigration measures.
The White House praised Schroyer’s experience in interagency collaboration, tactical planning, and policy implementation—skills often used to justify aggressive crackdowns on immigrant communities. Mullin urged a swift confirmation, emphasizing Schroyer’s oversight of large-scale operations and his work with state and federal agencies under the controversial 287(g) program, which has faced criticism for enabling racial profiling and the targeting of vulnerable populations.
ICE has lacked a Senate-confirmed director since 2017, with the agency’s leadership in flux as it carried out Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. Mullin boasted on social media that Schroyer comes "straight from the operational field," having led operations to remove undocumented immigrants from Oklahoma under 287(g). He praised Trump’s pick, claiming Schroyer’s leadership would "empower the men and women of ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens, secure the homeland, and protect the American people"—language that underscores the administration’s ongoing assault on immigrant rights and communities.
