The Republicans’ domestic policy megabill, which President Donald Trump signed into law a year ago this week, was remarkable in a great many ways, but one of the arguably underappreciated elements of the far-right package was how much money it threw at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The overall bill set aside $150 billion for immigration enforcement, with about $30 billion of that total going directly to ICE. To put that in context, Republicans nearly quadrupled the agency’s budget and ensured that ICE is far better funded than other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

Nearly a year later, the GOP majority in Congress narrowly approved a spending package that will fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection for the remainder of Trump’s second term, agreeing to spend an additional $70 billion on immigration enforcement.

As ICE’s budget, powers and workforce grow in unprecedented ways, it is going to be a challenge to lead this rapidly expanding agency. That task will not fall on Todd Lyons, who recently stepped down after serving as ICE’s acting director for more than a year.

If the president has his way, the job will instead fall to someone with a surprisingly low public profile. The Wall Street Journal reported:

Before backing Lance Schroyer to head U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin got to know him in an unusual way: Schroyer led an Oklahoma Highway Patrol security detail at the home of the then-U.S. senator.

Mullin invited Schroyer in for dinner, and the two struck up a friendship, according to people familiar with their relationship.

The Journal’s report added that Schroyer’s personal connection to Mullin has catapulted him to one of the biggest jobs in the federal government, despite being “a relative unknown in national law-enforcement circles” and despite his inexperience in leading large departments or in a leadership role at the Department of Homeland Security.

The same article added that a variety of officials, including some at the White House, have raised concerns that the DHS secretary has put his trust in a personal friend “rather than someone with proven political acumen.”

It’s worth emphasizing that after Mullin left Capitol Hill to join the president’s cabinet, he brought Schroyer along and added him to the secretary’s DHS team. The Washington Examiner reported that Schroyer was “carrying [Mullin’s] briefcase” before Schroyer was “abruptly promoted” to senior adviser at DHS earlier this year. And now he’s Trump’s nominee to lead ICE.

The same report said, “Several current and former federal officials familiar with Schroyer’s background and ties to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told the Washington Examiner this week that his nomination was a ‘mistake’ that may do more to hurt Trump’s immigration agenda than help it.”

The nominee’s confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled, though it’s likely to be a challenging process. Watch this space.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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