At the end of WWII, Hitler’s answer to Germany’s impending defeat was to issue the ‘Nero Decree’ to burn Berlin down to the ground. Donald Trump’s answer to a Republican election disaster is to hand more power to Stephen Miller as his new Chief of Staff, that’s doubling down with a vengeance. After Americans elected a Democratic Congress, Trump elevated one of the principal architects of the aggressive immigration policies that helped drive the backlash. Roughly six in ten midterm voters said the administration’s immigration enforcement had gone too far. Trump’s response was to promote the man who helped take it there. Roger Stone calls Miller his “wartime consigliere,” and that description ought to make Americans pay very close attention to whom this White House actually intends to fight. Civil war, anyone?
“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;” Isaiah 10:1 (KJB)
Miller publicly pushed a minimum of 3,000 ICE arrests every single day, with the number supposed to keep climbing. Reuters reported that he urged officials to pursue immigration offenders broadly and suggested Home Depot and 7-Eleven locations where workers gather. Think about the machinery that creates. Washington demands numbers, officials feel pressure to deliver, and the people easiest to grab become the easiest way to satisfy the demand. Every person swept into that machinery has a name, a family and circumstances that deserve examination. An arrest tally tells Americans nothing about whether justice was served. A government can fill detention facilities while at the same time still fail the very people it claims to protect.
ProPublica documented immigration agents smashing vehicle windows with children or pregnant women inside, injuries during arrests, and force used against people without known criminal records. Miller then publicly assured ICE officers that they had federal immunity in conducting their duties—an assurance that overstated their protection against prosecution for unlawful conduct. Demand more arrests, push enforcement into everyday life, and tell the officers they are protected: that combination should alarm anyone who believes government power requires restraint. Stephen Miller’s promotion rewards the direction he helped establish, and that’s not good at all.
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