Immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller set to win key post in Trump White House

Hard-liner Stephen Miller is reportedly poised to win a key White House post in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The face of Trump’s harsh immigration policies, Miller is expected to be named deputy White House chief of staff for policy, a wonky-sounding post that he may use as a platform to implement far right-wing policies across a wide variety of issues.
Miller played a powerful role in the first Trump administration as a speechwriter and presidential aide. He helped implement both the ban on travelers from Muslim countries and the controversial policy of separating families at the border.
A lightning rod for liberal and moderate critics, Miller has long been expected to wield even more authority the second time around, particularly after he was a regular feature at Trump rallies and on right-wing TV during the 2024 campaign.
He told Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden that “America must be for Americans only,” and vowed to follow through on threats to deport millions of undocumented immigrants including by setting up huge holding camps to detain suspected violators of U.S. immigration laws.
Although Miller’s appointment had not yet been officially announced, he won early congratulations from Vice President-elect JD Vance.
“This is another fantastic pick by [Trump],” Vance posted Monday on X.
Trump has already named Tom Homan, who led the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in his first term, as a so-called “border czar.”
He is expected to work hand in glove with Miller to coordinate both beefed-up enforcement at the southern border to prevent migrants from crossing into the U.S. as well as on efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Homan has shrugged off concerns about deporting members of families with a mix of immigration statuses, for example families in which one or both parents are undocumented but their children are U.S. citizens.
“Families can be deported together,” he told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” last month.
Millions of people living in the U.S. fall into that category, nonpartisan estimates say.
Immigrant advocates say it would be immoral and economically devastating to implement such a plan, and warn that it would be impossible to carry out without sweeping up large numbers of legal U.S. citizens in the process.