The mastermind behind President Donald Trump‘s mass immigration crackdown could soon take over as national security adviser in the wake of scandal-ridden Mike Waltz‘s ouster.
Axios reported Friday that Stephen Miller could soon assume the role after Waltz was booted following the “Signalgate” leak scandal, in which top members of the administration discussed classified details about an attack on Yemen on the commercial messaging app Signal.
But one source told Axios that Miller—an immigration hardliner who has celebrated the deportation of undocumented immigrants without due process—won’t say yes “if it takes him away from his true love: immigration policy.”
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Another confirmed that “if Stephen wants the job, it’s hard to see why Trump wouldn’t say yes.”
Trump fired Waltz Friday, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped in as interim national security adviser.
Other contenders for Waltz’s role include Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell, State Department Policy Planning Director Michael Anton, and Rubio himself, among others.
Miller’s name surfaced shortly after Waltz was fired from the administration a month and a half after he leaked sensitive national security information. The White House official inadvertently added a journalist to the Signal group chat that mentioned highly sensitive attack plan information in what’s now known as “Signalgate,” one of the administration’s greatest blunders thus far.
Critics have expressed fear about Miller’s newfound power. During Trump‘s first term, the immigration hawk was the architect of some of Trump‘s harshest policies; he pushed the president to adopt the “Muslim ban” and institute a family-separation policy that split 3,000 children from their parents. The cruel initiative was only stopped after Ivanka Trump herself told her dad to end it after public outcry.
Miller has now pledged to oversee the “largest deportation operation in American history” by targeting the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who call the country home.
Miller has long been called a white nationalist for sharing controversial, far-right articles and books in emails to a writer at Breitbart, who, after leaving the far-right outlet, leaked hundreds of his messages to nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate across the United States.
At the time, 55 civil rights groups wrote to Trump: “Stephen Miller has stoked bigotry, hate, and division with his extreme political rhetoric and policies throughout his career. The recent exposure of his deep-seated racism provides further proof that he is unfit to serve and should immediately leave his post.”
One of his emails recommended the book The Camp of the Saints, which is popular among white nationalists and neo-Nazis due to its focus on the “white genocide” or “great replacement” myth, and demonizes refugees. In one section, a nationalist character shoots and kills a pro-refugee leftist over his support of race mixing.
But Trump brought him back for round two of his administration. Even before the election, the MAGA loyalist started hatching a plan to tackle supposed “anti-white racism.”
Axios reported at the time that Miller plans to “dramatically change the government’s interpretation of civil rights-era laws to focus on ‘anti-white racism’ rather than discrimination against people of color.”
Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, told El País that Miller is already pulling the strings in the executive branch. In fact, he’s been known to purge government agencies of civil servants who disagree with his extreme agenda.
“The people managing the day-to-day operations—the acting secretaries and agency heads awaiting Senate confirmation—are individuals he has been cultivating and preparing over the past four years,” he said. “He has spent this time building an army loyal to Trump.”
Miller has earned Trump‘s respect, reported Axios, for running the Homeland Security Council “like clockwork.”
“This president has literally saved America,” he said at a Thursday press briefing. “And I could not be prouder.”
On Thursday, Miller went on an unhinged rant about the “war against cancerous, communist woke culture” that he said was destroying the country. He also gushed about Trump‘s presidency thus far, saying it was “without doubt... the greatest 100 days to begin any American presidency in the history of this nation.”
Trump, he added, has ushered in a new “golden age.”
