Donald Trump on Saturday praised his new nominee for director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, as a 'PATRIOT' with decades of experience.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his new pick for the immigration enforcement agency is a former US Marine who has 'real operational experience.' 

He called Schroyer a 'proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst.'

Schroyer's nomination comes after former ICE director Todd Lyons resigned at the end of May. 

David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, has been serving as the acting head of the agency. 

The White House didn't respond to questions about whether Schroyer would start immediately as acting director or Venturella would continue in his interim role.

If confirmed, Schroyer will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on Trump's immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. 

Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two US citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year. 

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration, a result of polarizing politics around the agency and immigration policy.

Schroyer hails from the same home state as the new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former congressman. 

Mullin quickly praised Schroyer in a statement Saturday highlighting the former trooper's 29-year career and his work with federal and state partners on a US immigration enforcement program. 

Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. 

The agency is undergoing massive growth from a one-time injection of $75billion last year, which has allowed for the hiring of 12,000 officers and increased detention capacity. 

Mullin, who started in his role in March, has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president's priorities on mass deportations.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official, said prior confirmed ICE directors have often been attorneys, though some state and local law enforcement officials have also been nominated. 

She said his background in Oklahoma suggests Mullin may have had influence over the pick.

'I think probably given the attention on ICE, he wants to feel like he has somebody he can trust in there,' she said in an interview.