Stephen Miller appointed White House chief of staff by President Trump

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Stephen Miller, a 41-year-old adviser who has been a vocal defender of the president’s immigration policies, will assume the role of White House chief of staff on Monday, succeeding Susie Wiles. The appointment follows the Republican Party’s losses in recent midterm elections and is viewed as a continuation of the administration’s controversial policies.

Democrats are expected to take control of both chambers of Congress in January and have signaled plans to investigate Miller’s influence in the White House. Miller, who joined Trump’s campaign in early 2016, has been described as an architect of the president’s mass-deportation drive and other strict immigration measures.

"One of my most trusted advisors," Trump wrote on Truth Social, praising Miller’s loyalty.

Miller’s background includes work as a legislative aide to Republican members of Congress and Senator Jeff Sessions, as well as leadership of the Duke Conservative Union during his college years. He served as a senior adviser and speechwriter during Trump’s first term, shaping policies such as the 2018 “Zero Tolerance” border rule and the 2017 travel restrictions on several Muslim-majority countries.

In May 2025, Miller told Fox News that the administration had set a goal of at least 3,000 daily ICE arrests and that President Trump intended to raise that target. He has also defended aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and has made statements calling certain critics “terrorists" before later retracting them.

Legal challenges have arisen, including a July lawsuit filed by former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, alleging that Miller and other officials conspired to target non-citizen Palestinians for deportation. Miller has previously called Representative Rashida Tlaib “deeply anti-Semitic and deeply anti-American” and advocated for ending birthright citizenship.

The chief of staff traditionally oversees White House staff, manages the president’s schedule, and acts as a key policy adviser, often described as the “gatekeeper” to the presidency.