WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — United States (US) President Donald Trump on Saturday nominated a former police officer from Oklahoma to be the next director of the controversial US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE.

Trump said Lance Schroyer was a former state trooper and United States Marine “with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst”.

Schroyer would succeed Todd Lyons, appointed acting director of ICE in March 2025. Lyons stepped down from the position in May, a few weeks after the dismissal of then secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem.

Lyons, Noem and Gregory Bovino, the former head of Customs and Border Control, were the face of Trump’s mass deportation campaign when it was at its most visible and controversial point some months ago.

The proposed new head of ICE has been helping wage that campaign, Noem’s successor Markwayne Mullin wrote in a post on X.

“Lance is coming straight from the operational field where he ran large scale operations and worked alongside state and federal partners to remove illegal aliens from Oklahoma,” Mullin said.

Individuals nominated to head federal agencies are supposed to be confirmed by the Senate, but that has not happened with ICE since 2017. Since then, its leaders have served in that capacity as interim directors.

“It has been 11 years since @DHSgov has had a Senate-confirmed @ICEgov director. The Senate must quickly confirm Lance Schroyer,” Mullin wrote.

Many Americans view the Trump administration’s anti-immigration drive as excessive. The controversy soared when federal agents killed two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as they protested enforcement raids in the northern city of Minneapolis.

Deportations continue, with Americans who disagree with them now often focusing their ire on sprawling detention facilities where detainees are held.