Stephen Miller's rise to prominence and influence on the Trump administration

Geoff Bennett:

President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, announced today that roughly 700 immigration officers will be withdrawn from Minnesota after what he described as unprecedented cooperation from local law enforcement.

But about 2,000 agents are still expected to remain on the ground for what he described as targeted operations. During an interview with NBC News today, President Trump was asked why he directed Homan to withdraw some of the officers and what he had learned from Minneapolis.

President Donald Trump:

I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough. These are criminal -- we're dealing with really hard criminals.

Geoff Bennett:

In Minneapolis and elsewhere, there continue to be real concerns about ICE's tactics.

William Brangham focuses on that part of the story.

It appears we have some technical difficulties, so we're going to shift our focus now to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who is one of Washington's most polarizing power brokers. He's a chief architect of the administration's immigration crackdown, and his portfolio has expanded to include foreign policy as well.

Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, has this closer look.

Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff: The U.S. military is repatriating illegal immigrants at a pace and a skill that has never occurred before in American history.

Liz Landers:

One of the brains behind all of President Trump's second-term policies, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller.

Stephen Miller:

To all ICE officers, you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties. And anybody who lays a hand on you, or tries to stop you, or tries to obstruct you is committing a felony.

Liz Landers:

The 40-year-old hard-lined conservative grew up in Southern California and became politically active at a young age.

Woman:

I do like that he's really good about voicing his opinions, but I don't like the way he does it.

Liz Landers:

That's clear in this video made by his classmates at Santa Monica High School, which has excerpts from his speech Miller delivered while running for student government.

Stephen Miller:

Am I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up my trash, when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?

Liz Landers:

Witnesses say those comments got him escorted off stage. Miller went on to Duke University, which was thrust into the national spotlight in 2006, when white members of the school's lacrosse team were accused of raping an exotic dancer who was Black.

Bill O'Reilly, Former Host, "The O'Reilly Factor": You a student, pretty much the only person who talked to us. What's going on?

Liz Landers:

Miller made multiple TV appearances defending the players.

Stephen Miller:

This was never about what happened to this particular woman, according to her testimony, nor was it ever about these players.

Liz Landers:

The state's attorney general later dropped all charges against the players, and the accuser eventually admitted to lying.

Ashley Parker, "The Atlantic": He is appearing as essentially a spokesperson on major, major prime-time shows.

Liz Landers:

Ashley Parker is a writer at "The Atlantic" who has covered Miller.

Ashley Parker:

These cultural issues can kind of catapult someone like Stephen Miller from the fringes to the center of a conversation that's dominating the nation.

Liz Landers:

Miller began his career in Washington working for influential Tea Party Republicans like former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and then-Senator Jeff Sessions.

As a top aide to sessions, Miller helped craft messaging against a 2013 bipartisan immigration bill that would have created a path for millions of undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.

Fmr. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL):

I believe the interest that needs to be protected is the national interest of the United States.

Liz Landers:

Other Republicans lined up behind Sessions, and although the bill passed in the Senate, it eventually died in the House.

A few years later, Donald Trump entered the political scene, voicing his hard-line stance on immigration.

Ashley Parker:

The first senator to come on board and endorse Donald Trump was Jeff Sessions, and very shortly thereafter Stephen Miller joins the Trump campaign.

Liz Landers:

Miller soon began writing speeches for Trump with a heavy focus on immigration, including his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland that summer.

President Donald Trump:

We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration.

(Cheering)

Liz Landers:

Miller also delivered his own speeches on the campaign trail.

Stephen Miller:

Everybody who is trying to stop Donald J. Trump wants that border to stay wide open. They want illegal immigrants to continue pouring in. They do not want to protect the American people.

Ashley Parker:

What it really is, is a pairing, a kind of natural pairing of two like-minded individuals when it comes to immigration. This was not a place where Stephen Miller really had to pull Donald Trump to the right or to the extreme, but he did sort of provide an intellectual framework and policy understanding and philosophy of these views that Trump sort of intuited, but might not have originally been able to articulate.

John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Please raise your right hand.

Liz Landers:

President Trump quickly put those words to action once he entered the White House. And as a senior adviser to the president, Miller was one of the architects of some of his most controversial policies.

President Donald Trump:

And this is the protection of the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.

Liz Landers:

That includes the executive order dubbed the Muslim travel ban. It barred foreign nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the U.S. and was an early signal of how Trump would assert executive authority.

Stephen Miller:

Our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.

Liz Landers:

It also included the administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border.

David Muir, "World News Tonight" Anchor: Late today, President Trump signing an executive order that he says will keep families together.

Liz Landers:

Trump eventually ended that policy amid political pressure and the courts halted and narrowed the travel ban.

After President Trump's loss to Joe Biden in 2020, Miller echoed lies that the election was stolen. He described on TV that December the scheme to seat fake pro-Trump electors to overturn the results.

Stephen Miller:

So we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election.

Liz Landers:

Ashley Parker says Miller spent the time after Trump's 2020 loss strategizing for a potential second term.

Ashley Parker:

He's learned things in the first term. He now understands, for instance, why the travel ban executive order he wrote in Trump's first term was kind of a disaster. It created chaos at the airports. There was a huge backlash in the country and it was struck down by the courts. He now understands how to craft that order in a way that will be far more effective in achieving their goals.

And so he comes back with sort of a battle plan for what he will do and how he will do it if and when Trump retakes the White House.

Liz Landers:

Trump tapped Miller to be his deputy chief of staff for policy when he returned to the White House. With Miller's oversight, the administration hit the ground running by issuing a flood of executive orders.

Miller has continued to push his anti-immigration agenda. He came up with a strategy of using the Alien Enemies Act to quickly carry out deportations...

Stephen Miller:

Birthright citizenship is the biggest, costliest scam in financial history.

Liz Landers:

... and has been a vocal supporter of President Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship, which the Supreme Court is set to rule on this term.

Chad Wolf, Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security: I think he's got a more expansive role now, right?

Liz Landers:

Chad Wolf served as acting homeland security secretary during Trump's first term and worked closely with Miller.

Chad Wolf:

He comes armed in this administration with a lot more experience than I would say than he did showing up in 2017. I think he understood immigration. But then the question is, how do you effectuate the policy within that executive branch, within DHS, the Department of Justice and State Department? I think he understands that a lot better today than he did then.

Liz Landers:

And last month, Miller delivered the administration's early and forceful pushback after the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by immigration agents in Minneapolis, calling the ICU nurse a would-be assassin, before walking that back as videos of the incident circulated.

Miller's role has expanded beyond immigration, playing a key role in foreign policy from Venezuela to Greenland.

Stephen Miller:

You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.

Liz Landers:

Ashley Parker says it's all a sign that Stephen Miller's importance has only grown this term.

Ashley Parker:

In the first Trump administration, Stephen Miller was a senior adviser. He was incredibly powerful. He had the trust of the president. But this term, it is that on steroids. And it is hard to overstate just how broad Stephen Miller's purview is in Trump's second term and just how powerful and important he is.

Liz Landers:

"PBS News Hour" asked the White House for an interview with Miller for this report. They did not make him available.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sent this statement -- quote -- "Stephen Miller is one of President Trump's most trusted and longest-serving aides. The president loves Stephen," further evidence that, as Miller's portfolio has grown inside the White House, so too has his influence with President Trump.

Geoff Bennett:

Our thanks to Liz Landers for that report.