WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, withdrew the nomination of Richard Schroyer of Oklahoma — known in press coverage as Lance Schroyer — to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, the formal title for the administration’s pick to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The withdrawal appears on the White House list of Withdrawals Sent to the Senate dated Sept. 17. Politico reported the move as the White House pulling its stalled ICE director nominee after a Republican blocked his confirmation hearing. CNN likewise reported Schroyer among nomination withdrawals on the White House site.

Schroyer’s path never reached a confirmation hearing. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had held the hearing while seeking more information from the Department of Homeland Security about its investigation into two ICE and Border Patrol agents accused of killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January, Politico reported. CNN separately noted Paul had yet to schedule a hearing and has had a contentious relationship with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

The formal nomination went to the Senate on July 20, 2026, when the White House sent “Richard Schroyer, of Oklahoma, to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security.” Trump had announced the ICE director pick in late June. Schroyer is a former Oklahoma state trooper who led Mullin’s Senate security detail and later served as a DHS senior adviser — a Mullin ally elevated into the ICE slot without a track record running a major federal law-enforcement agency, according to Politico and CNN.

That résumé gap is the accountability story. ICE sits at the center of mass-deportation policy; putting a secretary’s former detail chief into the director’s chair without a Senate hearing concentrates power and short-circuits oversight. Paul’s hold — tied to unanswered questions about lethal force against U.S. citizens — is the kind of Senate check executive nominations are supposed to face. Pulling the name after the hold, rather than answering the committee, leaves the agency without a confirmed director and the public without answers on Minneapolis.

The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Politico’s requests for comment; CNN also reported outreach to both for comment.

Sources