Stephen Miller has sought this week to distance himself from the recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis and the administration’s miscalculated response. But more than anyone, Miller has been the overall architect of Trump’s aggressive deportation push, encouraging heavy-handed operations in blue cities and urging agencies to cast a wide net to meet hefty arrest quotas.
Miller is one of multiple Trump administration officials who have sought to cast blame on each other in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minnesota as they have faced bipartisan criticism for the increasingly chaotic scenes there and for their seeming rush to blame Pretti for the confrontation.
On Tuesday, Miller — who has long been reticent to admit to failure or weakness — took the rare step of acknowledging a possible mistake in the administration’s immigration effort, a sign of how much the Pretti shooting has shaken the White House.
Miller said that Customs and Border Protection may not have followed protocols during the shooting, and he noted that the White House based its preliminary response on initial reports from CBP on the ground.
Miller originally called Pretti a “would-be assassin” — and his comment was amplified by other Trump-linked accounts. His description of Pretti was quickly contradicted by video that showed him only filming officers and helping a woman who had been knocked down.
Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is widely seen in the administration as the mastermind of the president’s immigration policy, relentlessly pushing officials to meet goals that he designates on behalf of the president.
His power is evident in his daily 10 a.m. conference calls, including Saturdays, where he demands updates from agencies and exerts pressure on senior officials who deliver less-than-satisfactory results, according to a source familiar.
The call, which a White House official described as a “policy call to ensure interagency coordination,” includes senior leadership of agencies across the administration who are responsible for various aspects of national security and public safety.
And while the call can cover a host of topics, it largely focuses on Trump’s immigration push, a core part of the president’s second-term agenda.
Miller is militant, according to administration sources, in his belief that he must strictly enforce that push. He has been keenly focused on numbers, including how many immigration arrests are being conducted on a given day and how quickly deportations are happening. Last year, he directed ICE officials to meet daily quotas of 3,000 immigration arrests — an unprecedented number that hasn’t yet been met.
The intense White House pressure is felt downstream among agents and officers conducting immigration enforcement operations, resulting in their casting a wide net as to whom they arrest, including those who do not have criminal records.
Officials will often breathe a sigh of relief when Miller is directing his ire to an agency that’s not their own during the calls. Miller is also known to call Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem— who has taken significant heat for her handling of Minnesota — multiple times a day, according to sources, to provide guidance and direction on how Trump’s immigration agenda is being executed.
“Stephen is laser-focused on implementing the president’s agenda and the high success of the Homeland Security Council showcases that,” a White House official told CNN, pointing to the “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” and the oil boat seizures, among other items. “This is the definition of good government.”
CNN has previously reported Miller is also heavily involved with the Justice Department day-to-day operations especially when it comes to immigration and messaging. He is in regular contact with officials at all levels of the department, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.
A White House official argued that Miller’s role is strictly focused on policy, not operational enforcement. The official noted that Greg Bovino, who until this week led the operation in Minnesota, was not present for these calls.
Miller, a former Senate aide who has long been fixated on immigration policy, joined Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign during its early stages, and was the rare White House aide to serve the full four years of his first term. He has become even more powerful during Trump’s second term, weighing in on a wide range of issues as Trump and his aides have sought to transform Washington.
One White House official laughed at the prospect of Miller being fired over the Minneapolis response. Trump “is hesitant to talk about getting rid of someone who has been here a few weeks, let alone someone who has been with him for more than 10 years. It’s not even on his radar.”
By Wednesday, Miller was back to sharing X posts about the arrests of “Minnesota rioters” and the “dangerous policy” on immigration supported by Democrats.
