Trump to name immigration hardliner Stephen Miller deputy chief of staff : NPR

Stephen Miller, senior advisor President-elect Donald Trump, speaks at a campaign rally on Oct. 11 in Aurora, Colo.

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President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Stephen Miller as the White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

The role puts Miller back at the White House where he is expected to take on a leading role writing and implementing Trump’s immigration agenda, which includes plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

“This is another fantastic pick by the president,” Vice President-elect JD Vance posted on x.com, an apparent confirmation of Miller’s rumored appointment, first reported by CNN.

Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving and most trusted advisers. He worked with Trump on his 2016 presidential campaign before joining him at the White House as a senior adviser.

He’s known best for his role as a lead author of some of the Trump administration’s strongest immigration plans in his first administration, including the highly controversial zero tolerance policies that led to children being separated from their parents.

Once Trump left office, Miller went on to start America First Legal, a non profit that was supposed to be the conservative version of the ACLU. It worked with conservative lawyers who filed hundreds of lawsuits and legal demands, on behalf of conservative causes and against Democrats.

Miller is likely to be one of the most controversial picks in a new Trump administration. But because the deputy job is not a cabinet position, he will not need to seek confirmation by the Senate.

In the final stretch of Trump’s 2024 campaign, Miller reprised his warm-up role at some rallies.

“You can have your country back, you can have your future back, you can have your state back,” Miller said during one of Trump’s final rallies in Salem, Va.

“You can look your children in the eye and say, ‘We did it, we saved America, we saved this republic. We didn’t let it get stolen from us.'”