Stephen Miller appointed White House chief of staff, key figure in Trump immigration agenda

President Donald J. Trump named longtime adviser Stephen Miller as the next White House chief of staff, a position he will assume on Monday, replacing Susie Wiles, who has served in the role throughout the current term. The announcement follows the Republican Party's losses in the recent midterm elections and upcoming Democratic investigations into the administration's immigration enforcement actions.

Miller has been identified as the primary architect of the administration's immigration policies, including the expansion of immigration enforcement funded by roughly $170 billion allocated by congressional Republicans in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted in July 2025. During the first Trump term, Miller helped develop the executive order that limited entry from several Muslim-majority countries, a measure that was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018 after multiple legal challenges.

He also supported the 2018 zero-tolerance policy that led to family separations and advocated for reductions in the annual refugee admissions ceiling, which was lowered to 15,000 for fiscal year 2021. In the second term, Miller urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase daily arrests, calling for at least 3,000 arrests per day in May 2025, and suggested deploying the National Guard to assist with large-scale deportations.

Miller has promoted the use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, a move that was later blocked by the Supreme Court. He has also backed broader third-country deportations, sending individuals to nations where they lack citizenship or family connections. In May 2025, Miller indicated that the administration was reviewing the possibility of suspending the legal mechanism that allows detainees to challenge their confinement in court.

At a conference in Miami in March 2026, Miller argued that military force, in addition to traditional criminal law enforcement, was necessary to combat drug cartels.