US immigration authority without management: Trump surprisingly withdraws top ICE personnel

dpa/epd | US President Donald Trump has surprisingly withdrawn his personnel proposal for the management of the controversial US migration agency ICE. The White House announced on its website that the nomination, which had already been submitted to the Senate chamber, had been withdrawn. No reasons were given. Trump actually wanted former Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer to become the new chief.

According to US media, it became clear in the Senate that the personnel process would be slow. With the withdrawal of the personnel proposal, the management of one of the central authorities in Trump's second term remains vacant. It is also a setback for Trump.

US media reported that Schroyer did not have many years of experience in the field of immigration. Trump called him a patriot when he nominated him in June. According to the media, Schroyer is close to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former senator from Oklahoma. Schroyer is a former Marine. The position became vacant after the resignation of acting director Todd Lyons was announced.

The ICE agency became a symbol of the aggressive migration policy of Trump's second term, which began in January 2025. The authority was responsible for controversial raids against migrants in democratically governed cities. Some of the officers were masked. The action triggered a large wave of protests in the USA.

The headwind for Trump became really severe when two US citizens died in Minneapolis in January when they were shot by federal officers from various authorities during such operations.

The US immigration agency ICE set a new record in August - according to its own information, more than 50,000 arrests. President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with his plan to implement the largest mass deportations in US history. There is resistance to this: the Catholic bishops have condemned mass deportations, and solidarity groups support those affected by deportation. However, resistance has so far been limited.

Officials arrested “50,925 illegal aliens,” more than in July (50,208) and June (43,900), it said. “If you are in the United States illegally, leave now,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned migrants. “We will find you, arrest you and deport you.”

For the people caught, the arrests are a personal catastrophe. However, they receive less attention in the media. That was different at the rallies in Minneapolis in Minnesota and in Los Angeles in June 2025. At that time, the government provoked with the National Guard. Masked ICE officers traumatized local residents. Federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. The headlines ran worldwide.

As the justice platform themarshallproject.org summarized, many arrests are done differently today. Migrants are often arrested during official appointments. ICE uses and pays for local police departments. Around 2,000 police departments have signed agreements with the government to stop immigration or hand over detained migrants to ICE. A quarter of the arrests in July occurred in Trump-friendly Texas.

Homeland Security Secretary Mullin said at the Republican convention in Texas a few days ago that “our base wants mass deportations.” But the ministry changed its approach “and tried to lower the temperature.”

The number of migrants who can be deported according to the law is increasing. In July, an estimated 350,000 people from Haiti living in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) humanitarian program lost their protected status. This protected status allows people to temporarily live in the United States during natural disasters and other emergencies. The Department of Homeland Security has revoked the Haitians' protected status.

Many Haitians live in Springfield, Ohio. This is where the Trump 2024 campaign spread the lie that migrants eat cats and other pets. Now Haitians are afraid of ICE. As the local newspaper Springfield News-Sun reported, ICE has forced hundreds of Haitians to wear ankle bracelets, according to migrants.

The Wall Street Journal wrote about “disappearing” workers in Florida. Half of Haitians with TPS status live there. Many people no longer dare to go out on the streets. Nursing services, restaurants and hotels in particular have lost Haitian workers.

TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador are also at risk of having their protected status withdrawn in the very near future. The deadline was actually September 9th, but the Department of Homeland Security has not yet announced a fixed date. An estimated 30,000 beneficiaries from El Salvador live in the US capital and surrounding areas.

If TPS protection status runs out, those affected will immediately lose work permits, their driver's licenses and "most importantly, protection from deportation," said Abel Nuñez, head of the Washington aid group Carecen, on a local radio station. Those affected would have to decide whether they risk deportation or leave their long-standing existence in the USA and their families behind.

ICE probably does not have the logistical capabilities to quickly deport those affected from Haiti and El Salvador, said Nuñez. The government will probably make life so difficult for people that they will “deport themselves.” This is one of the Trump administration's strategies.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies think tank, the number of undocumented people in the United States has fallen by an estimated 2.3 million to 13.5 million since Trump took office in January 2025. The Department of Homeland Security has claimed more than 2 million left the U.S. under Trump. They were deported or left voluntarily.