Guess which profoundly evil as well as extremely soggy Trump administration official is still around and continuing to wield outsized influence in his lifelong quest to turn the U.S. into a white ethnostate. Stephen Miller, that’s who!
Rather than being deservedly thrown into the moldiest dustbin known to humankind, Miller apparently continues to be welcomed with open arms by Congressional Republicans, who are looking to him for ideas and guidance as they scheme to derail President Biden’s ambitious immigration reforms. As Politico reported, Miller this week will meet “with conservative House members as they organize their opposition to Biden’s planned changes to Trump-era immigration regulations and his recently unveiled blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.”
Here’s more on their meeting, via Politico:
Miller, whose opposition to nearly all forms of immigration earned him the admiration of Trump and the enmity of many others, will be joined at the Wednesday meeting by Tom Homan and Mark Morgan, two former top immigration officials, according to a person involved with the planning and first reported by The Hill. All three men played integral roles in enacting many of Trump’s most controversial immigration policies, including the separation of migrant children from their parents upon arriving in the U.S. without authorization.
The gathering was organized by the 147-member Republican Study Committee, a group of traditionalist conservative lawmakers that also has met recently with other Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The group met with former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday.
Congressional Republicans aren’t the only ones who are eager to partner with Miller and give him a platform for his racist ideas. In a recent interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo, Miller, whose hairline has continued to rapidly recede, was given significant airtime to foam at the mouth about Biden’s proposed immigration reform.
“The legislation put forward by Biden and congressional Democrats would fundamentally erase the very essence of America’s nationhood,” Miller ranted, before screeching, “This is madness!”
The bill introduced by Democrats last week is being hailed by one immigration advocate as “the most progressive legalization bill in history.” It includes, as its centerpiece , an eight-year path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants, who have to meet a series of requirements and jump through several hoops, including passing a background check and paying taxes, before getting a green card. Among other provisions, it would also immediately allow DACA recipients as well as farmworkers and those with Temporary Protected Status to obtain permanent residency. It’s a good bill, but unless Democrats in the Senate agree to nuke the filibuster, which seems unlikely (I’m looking at you, Sinema), it’s unlikely to go anywhere in its current form. And given that some centrist Democrats in border states are unwilling to throw their support behind much of what Biden is proposing, its fate is even more unclear.
What is clear, and wholly unsurprising, is that Republicans are perfectly willing to continue to wield the lives of millions of undocumented people as a political talking point and to gin up their base. And they’re going to keep on looking to Miller for guidance.