The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has asked White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller to testify at a May 1 hearing on the nation’s immigration system.
“I am inviting you to testify before the Committee because it appears that you are one of the primary moving forces behind some of the most significant ― and in my view, troubling ― immigration policies coming out of the Trump White House,” Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote in an April 17 letter to Miller.
Cummings cited a recent meeting at the White House when President Donald Trump reportedly placed Miller “in charge of handling all immigration and border affairs.” The change formalizes Miller’s already significant role on the White House’s immigration agenda, giving him the ability to call and chair meetings on immigration issues.
Known for his stance against immigration, Miller is the man behind some of Trump’s most aggressive policies on the issue. Some of the policies he pushed include family separation at the southwestern border and the travel ban on seven countries, five of which have a Muslim majority. He is also an advocate of building Trump’s long-proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) earlier this month called Miller a white nationalist, citing CNN and Washington Post reports that link him to Trump’s decision to withdraw Ronald Vitiello’s nomination to be the next head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Vitiello, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, apparently did not endorse shutting down the southern border, as Miller had wanted.
People who know Miller have recalled moments where he displayed xenophobic, racist behavior. An uncle, David S. Glosser, told HuffPost in August that he believes his nephew views other ethnicities as “unworthy or inherently unsuited to life” in the United States. Miller also reportedly once said he would be “happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched America’s soil,” according to former White House adviser Cliff Sims in his book ”Team of Vipers.”
Cummings’ letter said testifying before the committee would allow Miller to make his case about why he and Trump believe their actions are good policy, “including intentionally separating immigrant children from their parents at the border to deter them from coming to the United States, transferring asylum seekers to sanctuary cities as a form of illegal retribution against your political adversaries, and firing top Administration officials who refuse orders to violate the law.”
Miller has until April 24 to respond to the committee’s invitation. The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Read Cummings’ letter here: