What an ICE leadership pick signals about the next phase of immigration enforcement

President Donald Trump has nominated a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency tasked with carrying out the president’s mass deportation campaign.

Richard “Lance” Schroyer’s nomination on June 27 comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the Trump administration to strip legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that opens them to deportation.

“Lance Schroyer has what it takes to DETAIN AND DEPORT Illegal Alien Criminals …,” Trump wrote on social media June 27. “...he LOVES the men and women of ICE.”

He will have to be confirmed by the Senate and, if he is, he will be the first Senate-confirmed ICE director in 11 years.

The current acting director of ICE is David Venturella, a longtime federal immigration official and former vice president of the private prison company GEO that rakes in billions through federal contracts it holds to detain immigrants at facilities across the United States.

Former acting ICE Director Todd Lyons stepped down in May following the shooting of two U.S. citizens by immigration officials in Minneapolis earlier this year.

$70 billion in new funding

Schroyer will come into an agency that Congress recently funded through fiscal 2029 at $70 billion, not including a separate funding stream of billions Republicans included in the president’s signature tax cuts and spending bill in 2025.

Schroyer does not have much experience working for the Department of Homeland Security, but serves as an adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who previously served as Oklahoma’s U.S. senator.

Schroyer also worked to establish Oklahoma’s law enforcement partnership with the federal government to assist with immigration enforcement through the 287(g) program. He served in law enforcement for nearly 30 years.

Mullin noted Schroyer’s work with the 287(g) program.

“Lance is coming straight from the operational field where he ran large-scale operations and worked alongside state and federal partners to remove illegal aliens from Oklahoma under the 287(g) program,” Mullin said in a statement. “With over 29 years of law enforcement experience, Lance will play a vital role in helping deliver on the President’s mandate from the American people to target, arrest, and deport illegal aliens.”

Oklahoma praise

Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt also praised the announcement, along with Schroyer’s career in law enforcement.

“He was a huge asset to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and now he’ll continue to make us proud at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Stitt said in a statement. “Oklahoma yet again leads the nation. We have consistently supported President Trump’s work to keep our border secure, and we have led in enforcement actions against those here illegally who engage in criminal behavior.”

Schroyer also received the Chief’s Award for his actions in 2015 when he assisted a woman whose car crashed outside his district in the jurisdiction of the Tulsa Police Department.

“He found her face down with her head pinned between the end of the dashboard and the passenger door. The woman was choking and was unable to speak,” according to a press release from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Schroyer called first responders and stayed with the woman, according to the release. “In order to enable her to breathe, he moved the car seats and kicked open a jammed door in order to reposition the woman allowing her to breathe,” the release said.

For his actions, he received the Chief’s Award, “honoring his dedication to the protection of lives and service to the public.”

Oklahoma Voice Editor Janelle Stecklein contributed to this report.