Donald Trump’s top adviser is expected to have a “much smaller public role in the future” following the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE. But it is out of the question to be fired, because “it is paying off” to the US president, experts say
After the death of American nurse Alex Pretti at the hands of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), attention begins to turn to Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s main advisor, responsible for redesigning the country’s immigration policy.
On social media, Miller was quick to classify the victim as a “wannabe killer” who tried to kill federal agents, just a few hours after the fatal confrontation between ICE forces and the 37-year-old man. But not even Donald Trump seems to agree with the statement, having assured this Tuesday that he “does not” believe that Pretti was a killer.
On the same day, speaking to CNN, Stephen Miller admitted that the agents “may not have followed” the proper protocol before the shooting that took Pretti’s life – an unusual position coming from someone known for reinforcing his convictions, according to .
Before being contradicted by the president himself, doubts were already being raised about the advisor’s absence in the two-hour meeting that Donald Trump held with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, this Monday, from which a new announcement was made: the White House’s Tom Homan was sent to Minneapolis to “recalibrate tactics” and improve cooperation with state and local authorities.
In addition to Homan being known for criticizing Stephen Miller’s approach, Donald Trump also maintained cordial phone calls with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
“The problem with Stephen Miller is that evil is resilient. He doesn’t feel shame, he doesn’t think this is a bad thing. He’s convinced that other people shamed him, but he doesn’t believe he’s leading an attack on Americans’ constitutional freedoms,” said Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project (an anti-Trump group), quoted by the same newspaper.
In May last year, Trump’s advisor ordered the immigration service to make three thousand daily arrests, an increase of almost ten times compared to the previous year. According to Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, Miller’s abuse of power was one of the main factors in discrediting Donald Trump’s deportation policy.
“The fact that he was removed from the meeting at the White House is a strong message to Washington that the president does not approve of this process and that there must be a change”, reinforces the official, ruling out, however, the possibility of Miller being fired. “I don’t expect Stephen Miller to be fired, because Donald Trump supports the policy, he just doesn’t support the way it was carried out”, highlighted Larry Jacobs.
Although Democrats have advanced an initiative to remove Kristi Noem, experts have no doubt that the real culprit in the Minneapolis tragedy is Miller, who still holds the position of deputy chief of staff at the White House.
Larry Jacobs highlights Stephen Miller as the real “architect” who “has been pushing ICE to get tougher and come up with more numbers, bring people in and then see if they’re the right people.”
“The recklessness, the brutality, the lack of due process. All of this has its roots in Stephen Miller”, highlighted the expert.
After the Minneapolis error, Donald Trump’s top adviser “will have a much smaller public role for the foreseeable future,” said Henry Olsen, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.
“It’s clear that Trump personally doesn’t like, from a public relations standpoint, what’s been going on, and he’s sensitive to that, always has been. He knows, both from his gut and from what the data tells him, that Miller and Noem didn’t do themselves any favors with the way they immediately approached Pretti’s death.”
Even so, it corroborates the opinion of researchers who do not believe in Miller’s dismissal: “He has been with Trump for a long time and the president has no problem getting rid of subordinates who do not perform, but it is suspected that Miller, in many aspects, is performing and, therefore, Trump is not going to throw him overboard hastily.”
“Stephen Miller is too dominant in Trump’s mindset about what the MAGA base wants to be truly removed from his circle. I don’t think there is a world in which Miller doesn’t maintain his authority and power with Trump”, corroborates Rick Wilson.
Henry Olsen emphasizes that it is in Donald Trump’s interest to keep Miller close, as the White House deputy chief of staff, he performs where the president is interested: on television. He is a combative supporter of Trump, who characterizes the Democrats as a “domestic extremist organization” and America as the leader of a world “ruled by force, ruled by violence, ruled by power.”
