Stephen Miller, one of President Donald Trump’s most senior advisers, is set to become White House chief of staff on Monday. Trump announced the change Friday, calling Miller one of his “most trusted” advisers. Miller replaces Susie Wiles, who held the job throughout Trump’s second term.
The shake-up follows heavy Republican losses in the midterm elections. Democrats have also said they plan sweeping investigations into the administration’s actions, including its immigration enforcement.
Miller has been the architect of many of those policies in both of Trump’s terms. During the first term, he helped develop and defend a travel ban on nationals of several Muslim-majority countries, and he backed a 2018 zero-tolerance policy that led to thousands of family separations. He also pushed for sharp cuts to refugee admissions.
In the second term, Miller pressed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make at least 3,000 arrests a day. He also backed the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, and he has supported expanded third-country deportations. Enforcement has been funded in part by about $170 billion that Congress approved for immigration enforcement and border security in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025.
The administration’s aggressive arrest targets led to protests across the country, and detentions of immigrants without criminal records rose sharply, according to the report.
