--- title: Trump Withdraws ICE Director Nominee After Republican Senator Blocks Confirmation Hearing description: The President tapped former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Lance Schroyer to lead the immigration agency in June. He has not provided an explanation for pulling the nomination. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-ice-director-nominee-lance-schroyer-rand-paul/ author: Connor Greene article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-17T18:23:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-17T19:18:31.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Withdraws ICE Director Nominee After Republican Senator Blocks Confirmation Hearing og:description: The President tapped former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Lance Schroyer to lead the immigration agency in June. He has not provided an explanation for pulling the nomination. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-ice-director-nominee-lance-schroyer-rand-paul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30ee5f9f3673aebd/6aac2d1994866d421f543ab0/GettyImages-2294351004.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2294351004.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Withdraws ICE Director Nominee After Republican Senator Blocks Confirmation Hearing twitter:description: The President tapped former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Lance Schroyer to lead the immigration agency in June. He has not provided an explanation for pulling the nomination. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30ee5f9f3673aebd/6aac2d1994866d421f543ab0/GettyImages-2294351004.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Withdraws ICE Director Nominee After Republican Senator Blocks Confirmation Hearing > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Updated: Sep 17, 2026 7:18 PM UTCPublished: Sep 17, 2026 6:23 PM UTC  President Donald Trump pauses as he walks alone along an ivy-covered wall during his final departure from Aras an Uachtarain in Dublin, Ireland, on September 12, 2026. President Donald Trump pauses as he walks alone along an ivy-covered wall during his final departure from Aras an Uachtarain in Dublin, Ireland, on September 12, 2026. Artur Widak—Anadolu/Getty Images by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Updated: Sep 17, 2026 7:18 PM UTCPublished: Sep 17, 2026 6:23 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/donald-trump/) on Thursday pulled his nomination of former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Lance Schroyer to head [Immigration and Customs Enforcement](https://time.com/7358027/ice-agents-minnesota-alex-pretti-abolish-ice/) (ICE) after Republican Sen. [Rand Paul](https://time.com/article/2026/03/25/republican-rand-paul-voted-against-iran-war-powers-resolution/) of Kentucky blocked Schroyer’s confirmation hearing, stalling the process from moving forward. Trump tapped Schroyer to be the next ICE director in June, calling him a “PATRIOT with real operational experience, and proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the [worst of the worst](https://time.com/7321835/trump-immigration-ice-detention-crime-data/),” and saying that he would play a “vital role” in the Administration’s [immigration crackdown](https://time.com/article/2026/08/10/ice-detention-deaths-immigration/). The President did not provide an explanation for his decision to withdraw the nomination. The White House did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for more information. Schroyer’s pick was somewhat of a surprise, given that he has no experience leading a law enforcement agency. He is close to Homeland Security Secretary [Markwayne Mullin](https://time.com/7382769/markwayne-mullin-homeland-security-secretary-kristi-noem/), whose department houses ICE; Schroyer previously served on Mullin’s security detail, and the Secretary later made him a senior DHS advisor. Schroyer also helped lead the Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s efforts to train troopers and enforce an immigration crackdown in conjunction with ICE in his state, and was deputized to make federal immigration enforcement arrests last year. Mullin and Trump both urged Congress to swiftly confirm Schroyer following his nomination. "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," Mullin said at the time, adding that Trump “made a great pick.” But Paul, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said in August that he would delay a confirmation hearing for Schroyer until DHS provided further information regarding the investigations into the [fatal shootings](https://time.com/7357923/abolish-ice-polls-minneapolis-shootings-alex-pretti-renee-good-trump-immigration/) of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year, a major flashpoint in Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown. **Read More:** [_On Thin ICE in Minneapolis: How Trump's Immigration Crackdown Sparked a Crisis of Trust_](https://time.com/7358027/ice-agents-minnesota-alex-pretti-abolish-ice/) ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since 2017\. Schroyer’s nomination followed former acting ICE Director Todd Lyon’s departure from the agency at the end of May. Long-time immigration official David Venturella has headed ICE, also in an acting capacity, since June 1. “Americans are calling on ICE to deescalate its immigration enforcement tactics, and the Administration needs to nominate someone who will right the ship, provide transparency, and restore the accountability Americans expect from law enforcement,” Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement, in which he called on Paul to bring Mullin and Venturella before the committee. “Despite the public's urging,” Peters added, “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.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-ice-director-nominee-lance-schroyer-rand-paul/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-ice-director-nominee-lance-schroyer-rand-paul/"},"headline":"Trump Withdraws ICE Director Nominee After Republican Senator Blocks Confirmation Hearing","datePublished":"2026-09-17T18:23:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-09-17T19:18:31.000Z","description":"The President tapped former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Lance Schroyer to lead the immigration agency in June. 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