Paul refused to schedule ICE nominee hearing over civilian death data

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests reached nearly 51,000 in August — the highest single monthly arrest total during President Donald Trump’s second term — even as the agency remains without a Senate-confirmed leader following the White House’s Thursday withdrawal of its nominee to head ICE.

The White House said Thursday it was withdrawing its nomination of Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead ICE. The withdrawal followed a hold dating back months by Sen. Rand Paul, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, who refused to schedule a hearing until the Department of Homeland Security provided information he had been seeking about civilian deaths during ICE enforcement operations.

“I don’t have a concern with who the nominee was. I had asked them to give me an update on the internal investigation into civilian deaths,” Paul, R-Ky., told The Associated Press. “And I’m still waiting.”

Paul said he had intended to hold a hearing on Schroyer’s nomination but it never came to that. The senator said he learned of the withdrawal only when the White House made it public Thursday.

The White House offered no comment in a brief statement. Schroyer, who has little experience in immigration, is close to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma.

ICE remains under scrutiny over its handling of enforcement operations. Critics have questioned how the agency has recruited and trained officers as it raced to hire thousands to carry out Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Officers have shot and killed multiple people during those operations, including two American citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

When Mullin took over DHS in March, he pledged a lower-profile approach to immigration enforcement, pulling back on large-scale street operations in major cities that sparked widespread public condemnation. Arrests have continued to accelerate regardless, reaching nearly 51,000 in August.

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since the Obama administration. David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, returned to the agency as acting director earlier this year after Todd Lyons resigned.

When Trump nominated Schroyer in June, the president said on his Truth Social platform that his pick was “a PATRIOT with real operational experience” and a “proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst.”

The administration did not indicate when it might announce another pick for the position.