The Cruel Architect- Part III
Behind every major immigration crackdown during the Trump presidency stood Stephen Miller—not just as an adviser, but as the architect. His fingerprints were all over the “zero tolerance” policy that led to the separation of thousands of children from their parents at the southern border.
In early 2018, Miller began pushing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice to adopt the family separation policy more aggressively. According to internal DHS emails and whistleblower testimony, Miller insisted that separating families would serve as a deterrent to future asylum seekers. When other officials hesitated, citing logistical concerns and humanitarian risks, Miller reportedly accused them of being weak and too sympathetic to illegal immigrants.
📈 Miller's Mindset:
🔵 The plan was as brutal as it was bureaucratic: charge every adult crossing the border illegally with a federal crime. Because children could not be held in criminal detention, they would be separated—sometimes without any mechanism for reunification.
“We need to take away children,” – paraphrased from internal DOJ email later reviewed by congressional investigators.
🔵 The public backlash was immediate and fierce. Images of children in cages and audio of toddlers crying for their parents ignited protests worldwide. Journalists uncovered that many of the children had been sent to facilities with inadequate oversight, and in some cases, officials lost track of where they had placed them.
🔵 Despite the outrage, Miller remained unrepentant. In private conversations reported by administration insiders, he maintained that the real scandal wasn’t the policy—but the failure to communicate its deterrent message effectively. In 2020, a House Judiciary Committee investigation found that Miller had been instrumental in not only designing but aggressively defending the policy within the administration..
🔵 As of late 2024, hundreds of children remain unaccounted for. Family separation has become one of the most infamous stains on the Trump administration—and one of the clearest reflections of Stephen Miller’s ideological priorities: cruelty not as a byproduct, but as a feature of governance.
📢 Final Closing Line for Part III:
"Stephen Miller's is pushing policy cruelty as ideological governance and as a “Zero Tolerance Policy.”
📢 Next up: The Unelected Executor Series — Part IV:
Power by Pen- Executive Orders as Weapons. 🚀