Stephen Miller's Rise And His Role In Trump's Immigration Agenda

Senior White House aide Stephen Miller is facing growing scrutiny for his role in shaping the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies. The criticism follows deadly Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that killed two US citizens.

As Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser, Miller has pushed for more deportation raids, tougher action against sanctuary cities, and closer cooperation between immigration agencies and federal law enforcement.

Earlier this year, Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot dead by ICE agents during enforcement actions in Minneapolis. After one of the shootings, Miller described a victim on social media as a “domestic terrorist.”

Miller has also called for aggressive deportation targets, urging immigration officers to carry out up to 3,000 arrests a day and backing plans to deport migrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.

Who Is Stephen Miller?

1. Stephen Miller was born on August 23, 1985, in Santa Monica, California. He became interested in conservative politics as a teenager after reading Guns, Crime, and Freedom by Wayne LaPierre.
2. Miller attended Duke University, where he studied political science. In 2006, he became nationally known for defending three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape, saying they were victims of a political and racial “witchhunt.”
3. He worked as press secretary for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Miller rose through Republican politics from a Senate staffer to a campaign aide and later joined the White House, where he survived internal conflicts during Trump's first administration.
4. During the 2016 campaign, Miller joined Trump as a policy adviser and later became a speechwriter. He frequently served as Trump's warm-up speaker at campaign rallies. After Trump won the election, Miller became a senior policy adviser in the White House from 2017 to 2021. He returned with him to the White House last year. His current official role is Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser.
5. During Trump's first term, Miller was a leading advocate of the family separation policy at the US-Mexico border. He also supported the travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, commonly known as the “Muslim ban.”
6. In 2021, he founded the America First Legal Foundation to challenge policies he opposed through the courts.