Stephen Miller leaks after Republican midterm losses, Digi Mart USA News: After Republicans were soundly defeated in Tuesday’s midterm elections, internal GOP criticism of White House adviser and deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller has surfaced. Unnamed sources within the Trump administration are targeting him.
According to The Wall Street Journal, first lady Melania Trump at one point complained to President Trump that people she knew were being deported. The report says this led the president to tell aides that Miller’s aggressive deportation plans were going too far.
A separate report in The New York Times said White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who may also face consequences after the election losses, was not a fan of Miller’s heavy-handed immigration approach. According to that report, she had tried for months to get Trump to take a different route.
After federal immigration agents killed nurse Alex Pretti in January, Miller joined then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in calling the Minneapolis nurse a “domestic terrorist.” That description did not sit well with the rest of the White House. Trump, concerned about video of Pretti’s death, reportedly told press secretary Karoline Leavitt to distance him from Miller’s and Noem’s comments, and asked immigration czar Tom Homan to travel to Minnesota to address the situation.
Democrats subsequently gained ground in polls on immigration policy.
The timing of the criticism, following losses in previously safe, deep-red areas, suggests Republicans may want Miller removed. The publisher argues they have good reasons but should have acted much earlier.
The publisher describes Miller’s record on racism and anti-immigrant views as well known, dating back to Trump’s first term. It argues he has sought to use the full power of government against immigrants he considers less than human, despite his own Russian Jewish ancestors arriving as refugees.
The article also says he probably had a hand in Trump’s decision to restrict refugee admission to white South Africans only, a status the publisher calls dubious at best.
The publisher contends that Miller’s push for high deportation quotas has given heavy latitude to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which it describes as bloated and overfunded and as engaging in violence and overstepping its bounds, including targeting U.S. citizens.
It says acting ICE head Todd Lyons resigned in April due to health issues, and that the backlash over these policies was a major reason Republicans lost ground on Tuesday.
The article concludes that if Republicans are now blaming Miller, he should soon be shown the door.
