Trump's ICE Nominee: The Figure Who Will Turn Local Police into Deportation Agents

U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated former Oklahoma State Police officer Lance Schroyer to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. If confirmed, Schroyer will become the agency's first permanent director since 2017, and this appointment is considered a harbinger of a broad policy toward the integration of local and federal law enforcement. Funded by taxpayer money, ICE's violent and controversial practices will also be moved to the center of daily policing activities with this new era. Secretary of Interior Markwayne Mullin argues that Schroyer is highly qualified for the position and supports him to the end. This nomination is not merely an institutional change, but it also means that the way border security and immigration policies are implemented in the U.S. will undergo a radical transformation.

Although Schroyer has 29 years of state law enforcement experience, his background at the federal level is known to be quite limited. Schroyer, who served as a former member of Secretary of Interior Mullin's security detail, joined ICE only in March of this year as a senior advisor. However, according to Mullin, Schroyer's work alongside federal officials during his tenure as an Oklahoma State Police officer to help remove illegal immigrants from the state makes him qualified for this high-level position. Schroyer, a former patrol officer, stands out particularly for his practical experience in strengthening cooperation between federal and local forces. Critics, on the other hand, argue that his inexperience poses a significant risk in placing him at the head of such a critical and large federal agency.

The 287(g) task force program, which was expanded by an executive order issued at the beginning of Trump's second term, is considered the backbone of this new era. This program allows ICE to effectively authorize local police departments and prisons to act as federal agents. Everything from traffic stops to ordinary local arrests can turn into a federal immigration deportation pipeline. According to payment records obtained by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, there are more than 1,200 local partner agencies enrolled in the system in exchange for ICE rewards. The appointment of Schroyer goes down in history as one of the most concrete steps taken toward the official merger of local law enforcement with ICE, an agency that has also been associated with incidents of violence.

While managing the 287(g) program in Oklahoma, police departments in the state held some of the largest ICE contracts compared to any other state in the country. In March alone, law enforcement in Oklahoma, the second-highest funded state after Florida, signed at least a $47 million ICE contract. Under Schroyer's oversight, at least 30 different law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma —mostly local police departments but also more remote units such as the state's counter-narcotics agency— became party to 287(g) agreements. According to relevant records, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, as part of its partnership with ICE, conducted mass arrest operations in the fall months in which thousands of drivers were questioned and 193 immigration detentions occurred. In fact, the fact that even a police chief of a K-12 school district in a rural area accidentally signed a 287(g) agreement in March to collaborate with ICE demonstrates just how out-of-control proportions the program has reached.

While immigrant rights advocates argue that the 287(g) program wastes critical resources and personnel of local law enforcement, they point to a much more devastating societal problem. Immigrant individuals in society are beginning to avoid contacting the police even when they are subjected to serious crimes such as domestic violence. The main reason for this is the fear that any contact with the police could result in them being directly handed over to ICE. At the National Sheriffs' Association Conference, Secretary of Interior Mullin encouraged local police departments to work closely with Schroyer, stating that the 287(g) program is a great investment for the country. Meanwhile, the current acting ICE Director David Venturella, a former executive of a private prison company, continues ICE's existing controversial policies following his appointment. All these developments clearly indicate that the pressure on immigrant communities in the U.S. will continue to increase, and that local policing will become increasingly integrated into federal immigration enforcement.