White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller Added To Southern Poverty Law Center’s List Of ‘Extremists’
Stephen Miller has long been in the crosshairs of critics who have called out his hard-line immigration policies, and now the White House senior adviser has been included on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) list of “extremists” in the United States.
The non-profit organization, which identifies and tracks extremist groups in the United States, added Miller to its database of extremists this week. As Truthout reported, the entry for Miller noted that he is “credited with shaping the racist and draconian immigration policies of President [Donald] Trump,” including the controversial child separation policy that called for children of migrants to be taken from their parents after crossing the U.S. border and sent indefinitely to detention facilities. Miller was also criticized for Trump’s focus on what he called “caravans” of migrants traveling from Central America to the United States to seek asylum, leading Trump to put restrictions on border crossings for those seeking asylum.
The SPLC noted that Miller has led efforts to demonize immigrants, part of larger goals to end all forms of immigration.
“Through the conscious use of fearmongering and xenophobia, Miller implements policies which demonize immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, in an apparent effort to halt all forms of immigration to the United States,” the nonprofit group added.
As Haaretz noted, Miller has more recently pushed for new crackdowns on immigration during the COVID-19 crisis, including a now-rescinded order that foreign college and university students whose institutions are not offering in-person classes must leave the country. The order drew significant pushback from higher education institutions and advocacy groups, leading it to being pulled back.
The report noted that Miller has also been connected to more extremist groups.
“A 2019 investigation by the civil rights group also found that Miller, who is Jewish, promoted white nationalist content to staff members at at the right-wing news site Breitbart in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election,” the report noted.
Miller came under the fire for the emails when they were released late last year, but his job at the White House did not appear to come into any jeopardy as a result. As The Inquisitr reported, Miller has the support of Trump, who did not consider firing the top adviser after the release of the emails that showed a strong connection to white nationalist groups and ideas.
“Stephen is not going anywhere,” a senior White House official told The Daily Beast at the time. “The president has his back.”
