What Stephen Miller has pushed for while in Trump administration

Stephen Miller, the adviser who has shaped President Donald Trump's hardest-line immigration measures across both terms, takes over as White House chief of staff on Monday, replacing Susie Wiles. Trump revealed the swap Friday and praised Miller as one of his "most trusted" aides. The shift follows heavy Republican midterm losses, and Democrats are preparing broad investigations that include immigration enforcement, according to CBS News.

In the first term, Miller helped design and defend the order restricting entry for nationals of several Muslim-majority countries; the Supreme Court upheld a third version in 2018. He also backed the zero-tolerance policy that separated thousands of families and urged deep refugee cuts, with the annual ceiling eventually set at 15,000 for fiscal year 2021, compared with 110,000 in fiscal 2017 under Barack Obama.

Since returning, he has pressed ICE for at least 3,000 arrests a day, proposed using the National Guard for mass deportations, and promoted the Alien Enemies Act to send alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador's CECOT prison, a move the Supreme Court limited. In May 2025, he said the administration was weighing suspension of detainees' ability to challenge confinement in court.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CBS News’s reporting. Read the full story at CBS News →