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White House Withdraws Lance Schroyer ICE Director Nomination

5 sources · updated 2026-09-19
Left 75% Center 25% Right 0%
3 left · 1 center · 0 right

What happened

The White House on Thursday withdrew President Donald Trump's nomination of Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump had announced the nomination in June; Schroyer previously served on Mullin's Senate security detail and led the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's partnership with ICE after a 40-hour training program that deputized him to make immigration arrests. The nomination never received a Senate hearing because Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, had not scheduled one, seeking more information from the White House about the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents during ICE operations in Minnesota earlier this year. The White House did not state a reason for the withdrawal. Acting ICE Director David Venturella is expected to remain in the role; ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 4 articles

2 of 4 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 2 of 4
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: White House, Rand Paul and President Donald Trump
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 2 of 4
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: White House announcement, official notice
Credits another outlet 0 of 4
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 2 of 4
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this. Here: e.g. “Unnamed DHS employees”
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 17, 17:53 UTC by The Guardian, naming its source. First document in the first report, from The Guardian (White House announcement).
Not counted 0
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Left-leaning coverage never reports that border czar Tom Homan opposed the nomination, so the withdrawal reads as a Senate stall plus a thin resume. Right-leaning coverage is more complete on the inside fight: Daily Wire reports Homan's opposition, which recasts the pull as Mullin versus the border czar. That same Homan appears in the Guardian only as a target of Trump allies who wanted more deportations, not as a critic of this nominee. Left-leaning coverage, in the Guardian, turns from the withdrawal to ICE officers in face coverings and to the Minnesota killings, then to public outrage that forced a quieter deportation push. Right-leaning coverage in Daily Wire leads with Republicans blocking a hearing and never makes that turn toward the street-level crackdown. What reason did White House officials give one another for pulling Schroyer, since they gave the public none?
Bottom line

If you read the Guardian or NBC News, the ICE withdrawal is Paul's hold plus a thin resume; Daily Wire is the one that puts Tom Homan's opposition on the page.

The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • Border czar Tom Homan reportedly opposed Schroyer's nomination contextin Daily Wire · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Schroyer was deputized to make ICE arrests after completing a 40-hour online training program numberin Daily Wire · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Schroyer led the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's partnership with ICE, which trained troopers in immigration law contextin Daily Wire · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • The two people shot by federal agents in Minnesota were U.S. citizens individual casein Guardian, NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons refused to apologize to the Pretti and Good families before leaving the job individual casein Guardian · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets frame the collapsed nomination as an underqualified political ally being tapped to run an agency already under fire for aggressive tactics. The Guardian stresses that Schroyer had "no formal experience working in ICE" and that unnamed DHS employees told Politico they "didn't want Schroyer to take over and implement changes." Those sources place the pick against ICE's expanded crackdown — officers in face coverings and "discreet clothing," videos of forceful arrests, and the Minnesota shootings — and note that then-acting director Todd Lyons was "further condemned after refusing to apologize" to the victims' families before leaving in May. NBC News reports Paul blocked a hearing because he was "unsatisfied with how much information he obtained from the White House about the shootings."
The Right View
Right-leaning coverage treats the episode as a stalled personnel fight inside the Republican coalition rather than a verdict on ICE's mission. The Daily Wire reports that Republicans blocked a confirmation hearing, that some DHS officials worried Schroyer "lacked adequate experience enforcing immigration law and working in the federal government," and that border czar Tom Homan "also reportedly opposed" the nomination. It presents the Oklahoma Highway Patrol–ICE partnership as proof of operational credentials, quoting Mullin's claim that Schroyer's "strong leadership and firsthand experience" would "empower the men and women of ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens, secure the homeland, and protect the American people," and notes the agency has gone more than a decade without a confirmed director.
Our Take (balanced)
The left's strongest argument is that a Mullin loyalist with no ICE career was an unfit choice to run a vast enforcement agency, and that even the Republican committee chair would not proceed without more answers on the Minnesota killings — a claim anchored in DHS staff skepticism reported by Politico and Paul's information hold. The right's strongest argument is that the withdrawal reflects MAGA and intra-administration friction over credentials and factional control — Homan's reported opposition, Paul's delay, and Axios's account of "tension" between Mullin and Homan over Schroyer's "limited immigration experience" — not a retreat from the deportation agenda itself. The central unresolved tension is whether the nomination failed because of unanswered accountability for deadly ICE operations and a genuine qualifications gap, or because rival Trump-world power centers simply would not accept Mullin's pick.

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