Trump Names Stephen Miller as White House Chief of Staff

US President Donald Trump has named Stephen Miller, a longtime adviser, as the next White House chief of staff. Trump announced the move on Friday, saying Miller would replace Susie Wiles on Monday.

The appointment follows the Republican Party's losses in the recent midterm elections. Democrats are set to control both the House and Senate in January and are expected to investigate Miller's role in the administration.

Miller, 41, is widely regarded as an architect of Trump's mass deportation campaign and has been one of the president's most vocal defenders. On Truth Social, Trump described Miller as "one of my most trusted advisors."

Miller's conservative activism began before he joined Trump's orbit. He spoke on local radio as a high school student in Santa Monica, led the Duke Conservative Union at Duke University, and later worked as a legislative aide for Republican members of Congress and Senator Jeff Sessions. He joined Trump's 2016 campaign in January and helped shape its messaging.

After Trump's 2016 win, Miller became a presidential adviser and speechwriter. He played an influential role in immigration policy, including the Justice Department's 2018 "Zero Tolerance" border policy, which led to widespread family separations before Trump reversed it by executive order.

Miller also campaigned to end DACA, supported the 2017 travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries, and backed Trump's unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Democratic lawmakers have accused him of promoting white nationalist rhetoric, and the Southern Poverty Law Center published emails in 2019 allegedly showing his support for white nationalist ideologies.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025 as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, Miller has helped run a mass deportation drive. In May 2025, he told Fox News the administration aimed for at least 3,000 ICE arrests per day.

He has defended aggressive enforcement tactics, including the January killings of two people during a Minneapolis operation, and backed efforts to remove visa-holders and permanent residents linked to pro-Palestinian activism. A lawsuit filed in July by former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil accuses Miller and other officials of targeting non-citizen Palestinians.

Miller has also called for the expulsion of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, sought to end birthright citizenship, endorsed the US abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and said the US had a right to seize Greenland based on military force.

It remains unclear how the chief of staff role will change Miller's influence. The position typically involves managing White House staff and hiring, maintaining the president's calendar, and controlling access to the president.

Source: Al Jazeera.