Arabic version: البيت الأبيض يسحب ترشيح ريتشارد شروير لقيادة هيئة الهجرة والجمارك

According to BBC News, the White House has withdrawn President Donald Trump’s nomination of Richard Schroyer to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement after Republican Senator Rand Paul joined Democrats in opposing his confirmation.

Schroyer, a senior aide to the homeland security secretary, was nominated in June. The White House withdrew the nomination on Thursday in a brief memo that gave no reason for the decision. His nomination had stalled in the Senate Homeland Security Committee and never reached a full Senate vote.

Paul, the committee’s chairman, had said he would not advance the nomination until the White House provided more information about ICE and Border Patrol shootings that killed two US citizens in Minneapolis in January. Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot in separate confrontations with ICE agents while protesting, prompting national protests.

Schroyer previously worked for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for 29 years and served in the US Marines. He is a close ally of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose department oversees ICE and other immigration and border agencies. His selection was viewed as a surprise because he lacked experience running an agency of ICE’s size.

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since 2017 and is currently led by David Venturella, a former private prison executive. The withdrawal is a setback for Trump and Mullin as the administration pursues Trump’s pledge for the largest deportation effort in US history.