Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Stephen Miller Key Figure Behind Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Election Push

Leading up to the midterm elections, President Trump ramped up his campaign against immigration with a push from Stephen Miller, his chief policy adviser on the issue, the New York Times reported.

Remembering how stoking fears of immigration helped his 2016 presidential run, Trump looked to Miller these last two weeks for tactics in hopes of ensuring Republicans take control of Congress.

The strategies included fixating on the caravan of migrants traveling from Mexico to the United States seeking refuge from violence and poverty and suggesting “birthright citizenship” be a thing of the past.

The Jewish aide has been working to strengthen the U.S.’s immigration policies, despite his own family history. He pressed to cut the refugee program even lower, allowing 25,000 to enter the country rather than the initial agreed-upon ceiling of 45,000, Politico reported.

Miller was the face of last year’s controversial travel ban and staunchly supported the zero-tolerance policies enacted last summer, claiming it was a “simple decision” to separate families at the border.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version