White House pulls nominee to head US immigration agency

The White House on Thursday withdrew its nominee to head US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Lance Schroyer, a former US Marine and Oklahoma state trooper, was named by Trump earlier this year to be the next ICE director, a post subject to Senate confirmation.

In a brief statement on its website, the White House said Schroyer’s nomination had been withdrawn.

No reason was given, but the nomination had been stalled in the Senate.

ICE is currently being run by an acting director after the previous interim chief stepped down in May.

Individuals nominated to head federal agencies are supposed to be confirmed by the Senate, but that has not happened with ICE since 2017. Its leaders since then have been interim directors.

Schroyer has been serving as an adviser to Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin pending his Senate confirmation.

Trump campaigned for the White House on a promise to expel millions of undocumented migrants and has taken a number of actions since taking office aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.

Nearly 51,000 undocumented migrants were arrested in the United States in August, according to Department of Homeland Security figures, surpassing the previous record high of 50,200 in July.