President Trump has nominated Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma State Trooper, to become the next Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If confirmed, he would be ICE’s first permanent director since 2017 and a central figure in a push to fold local
President Trump nominated Lance Schroyer on Saturday to serve as Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, setting up a Senate confirmation fight that could reshape how deportation enforcement reaches into everyday policing.
Schroyer, a former Oklahoma State Trooper, would become ICE’s first permanent director since 2017 if he is confirmed. The nomination places a spotlight on a broader strategy: integrating local and federal law enforcement so that routine encounters can feed into federal detention and deportation.
Schroyer’s experience is heavy on state policing—he has 29 years in state law enforcement—but his federal record is thinner. He joined ICE in March as a senior advisor. after earlier service as a member of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s security detail. Mullin has argued that Schroyer is still qualified for the role, pointing to his work while a trooper. In Mullin’s account. Schroyer operated “alongside state and federal partners to remove illegal aliens from Oklahoma under the 287(g) program.”.
The 287(g) program has become a key mechanism in that push. Expanded by executive order at the start of Trump’s second term. it allows ICE to deputize local police and jails. The result. as supporters and critics both describe it. is that traffic stops and local arrests can become steps in a federal deportation pipeline.
Schroyer’s nomination arrives as the program has spread widely. More than 1,200 local partner agencies have reportedly signed up for ICE bounties. His selection is being framed as another move toward merging local enforcement with ICE. extending the agency’s authority into daily policing and raising fresh concerns about the fallout for communities asked to collaborate with a detention and deportation apparatus.
In Oklahoma, where Schroyer worked on the state’s 287(g) program, police agencies have also held large ICE contracts. A payout ledger obtained by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein shows Oklahoma law enforcement agencies held at least $47 million in ICE contracts as of March—second only to Florida. Under Schroyer’s watch. at least 30 Oklahoma agencies signed 287(g) agreements. primarily local police departments. alongside other groups such as the state narcotics agency.
The reach of those agreements has also touched places far from typical law-enforcement hubs. The article recounts that in March, a rural K-12 school district police chief nearly entered into a collaboration with ICE by accidentally signing a 287(g) agreement.
Civil liberties groups have argued that 287(g) partnerships strain local law enforcement resources and reshape the behavior of immigrants and victims alike. An ACLU report in February described what it said was mass-arrest coordination connected to the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol’s ICE partnership.
According to the report. the Oklahoma Highway Patrol used traffic stops and “Oklahoma’s ports of entry” to carry out two major operations in fall 2025—targeting drivers. interrogating more than 1. 000 people. and making 193 immigration arrests. Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Tipton described the logistics of the operations to a local outlet. saying. “We set up a command post at the port. we provide troopers. our emergency response troopers. that come out to process them. ” and that. “It’s really a mass arrest event once you do that. when you have hundreds of people that you’re detaining.”.
Advocates have also argued that the program takes pressure off one kind of policing while adding fear to another. They say immigrants are less likely to report crimes—such as domestic violence—because they may worry that any interaction with police could become a pretext to hand them over to ICE.
At the National Sheriff’s Association Conference earlier this month, Mullin encouraged local police departments to work with Schroyer. The Wall Street Journal reported Mullin’s remarks. describing Schroyer—then a major in the Oklahoma state highway patrol—as advising agencies newly joining the 287(g) partnership program after joining DHS. Mullin told attendees: “We have him on staff. You guys want to talk to him?. You guys want to utilize him. see how he does it. ” adding. “He is fully committed and understands that the 287(g) program can be a tremendous asset to you and to the country.”.
For now, ICE enforcement leadership remains in transition. Acting ICE Director David Venturella, a former private-prison executive who took office earlier this month, will continue in his role until Schroyer is confirmed by the Senate, according to a DHS official.
The nomination lands at a moment when the mechanics of 287(g) are already deeply embedded—contracts, agreements, and large-scale operations in Oklahoma—and where Schroyer’s path from state trooper to ICE senior advisor is being presented as a bridge between those two worlds.
Trump ICE Lance Schroyer Oklahoma 287(g) immigration enforcement local law enforcement deportation Senate confirmation