Donald Trump withdrew the nomination of Lance Schroyer —a former police officer in the state of Oklahoma (south)—as director of the federal immigration police agency (ICE), one of the main agencies to which he has entrusted the implementation of his policy of mass arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants.
The withdrawal of the nomination, which was pending Senate confirmation, was announced without any comment or explanation, among other things, in a press release from the Republican president’s White House office.
The U.S. president had announced in late June that he had selected Mr. Schroyer, who, after completing his service in the Marine Corps, pursued a career in law enforcement in Oklahoma, the home state of the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Malin, who was appointed in March. The position has been vacant since the departure in May of its previous acting director, Todd Lyons.
In theory, the person appointed to the position of ICE director must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In practice, all directors since 2017 have been acting directors.
ICE has come under intense criticism recently for its methods, which have been described as brutal, and for deliberately flouting court rulings.
The Department of Homeland Security boasts that in August it set a new “record” for arrests, with nearly 51,000 undocumented immigrants apprehended, breaking the previous record of 50,200, which was set in July.
