Reeling from a bruising midterm election that stripped Republicans of control of Congress, US President Donald Trump has turned to one of his fiercest loyalists: Stephen Miller, the hard-charging architect of some of the administration’s most uncompromising immigration and domestic policies, now tapped to run the White House as chief of staff.
The move electrified a MAGA base still stunned by the party’s losses and eager for a fight from within the West Wing.
“It’s Miller time,” former congressman Matt Gaetz said, echoing — as many allies did — a famous US beer commercial.
Democrats, by contrast, reacted with alarm.
“Stephen Miller is a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands,” incoming House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
Often seen in sharp suits and sunglasses, and known for an intimidating presence, Mr Miller has for years stood out as one of President Trump’s most loyal — and most combative — advisers.
Here are some facts about the next White House chief of staff:
Trump loyalist
His wife, Katie Miller, is a conservative podcaster
Mr Miller, 41, grew up in politically liberal Santa Monica, California, yet gained a reputation for combative conservatism while writing as a columnist for Duke University’s student newspaper.
During the 2010s, while working as a congressional aide, he emerged as an early champion of immigration restrictions — a position that at the time had not yet become mainstream within the Republican Party.
He signed on to Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and then moved into the White House as an adviser and speechwriter during Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021.
After Mr Trump lost the 2020 election, Mr Miller launched the conservative advocacy group America First Legal, bringing complaints that accused corporations such as Nike of discriminating against white people.
In President Trump’s second term, Mr Miller has served as deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser
His wife, Katie Miller, is a conservative podcaster and previously worked as a communications aide in Trump’s first administration.
Ms Miller also served as spokesperson for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and has since built a following as an influencer within the MAGA and “tradwife” movements.
Among her most notorious posts, she amplified Mr Trump’s claims about Greenland by sharing an image of the island covered by the American flag and the word “soon”, posted shortly after the US military operation in Venezuela.
Immigration crackdown
Stephen Miller with images of undocumented immigrants arrested for crimes
Mr Miller is most closely identified with the immigration crackdown in President Trump’s second term, including a goal of 3,000 arrests per day — a target that far exceeds levels under previous administrations.
He has pressed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pursue anyone in the country illegally, rather than focusing only on people with criminal records.
Home Depot locations where day laborers gather became focal points for ICE arrests after Mr Miller said the agency should target the stores.
Hours after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot US citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, Mr Miller branded him a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin” on social media, despite Reuters-verified video showing Mr Pretti holding a cell phone, not a gun.
Mr Miller later said the agents involved “may not have been following” protocol.
Beyond enforcement, Mr Miller has argued forcefully to end birthright citizenship, and he blasted the Supreme Court ruling rejecting that proposal as “one of the most destructive and outrageous decisions” in the court’s history.
After that decision, Mr Miller announced a ban on “birth tourism”, aimed at stopping people from traveling to the United States to give birth.
His approach to management has been described as similarly unyielding.
In their book Regime Change, New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan wrote that Mr Miller was a domineering boss who frequently berated staff members.
Other issues
Stephen Miller declined to rule out military action to acquire Greenland in January
Mr Miller has also played a major role in several of the president’s other priorities, including efforts to counter diversity initiatives and moves targeting transgender rights.
He belongs to a small circle of White House staffers who sign off on all executive orders, a person familiar with the matter said last year.
On the war with Iran, Mr Miller has mirrored President Trump’s rhetoric, saying early in the conflict that US and Israeli strikes had eliminated Tehran’s leadership class and crippled its military capacity.
Later, he pointed to a ceasefire and told Fox News in July that some Iranian officials were “desperate” to reach a peace deal.
Mr Miller has promoted an aggressive posture in other foreign-policy arenas as well.
In January, he declined to rule out military action to acquire Greenland, and he said the US was “running Venezuela” after the capture of former president Nicolas Maduro in January.
He has supported US military attacks on suspected drug smugglers.
“These are terrorists and they’re going to be killed,” he said in October 2025.
According to people speaking on condition of anonymity, Mr Miller also pushed to broaden a probe in Puerto Rico in an effort to substantiate a discredited theory about hacked voting machines, even after the inquiry found no evidence.
Working alongside White House budget director Russell Vought, Mr Miller has spent months ahead of the midterm elections preparing executive actions Mr Trump could take unilaterally, without congressional approval.
