“ You might have time left for one more book, but
only if it doesn’t require a lot of research.”crimes committed by undocumented im
migrants. Then, growing sombre, he’d
invite the parents of a victim onstage to
offer his condolences.
In August, 2016, at a rally in Phoenix,
Trump delivered a policy speech on im
migration, written by Miller. It was typi
cally raucous and aggressive, full of racist
fearmongering, but it also contained a
detailed blueprint. “Our immigration sys
tem is worse than anyone realizes,” Tr u m p
began. “Countless Americans who have
died in recent years would be alive today
if not for the open border policies of this
Administration.” A tenpoint list of de
sired policies followed: among them were
an “end to catch and release,” “zero tol
erance for criminal aliens,” penalties for
sanctuary cities, a vow to reverse Obama’s
executive orders, and a “bigpicture” vi
sion for reforming the immigration sys
tem “to serve the best interests of America
and its workers.” Miller told the Wash
ington Post that it was “as though every
thing that I felt at the deepest levels of
my heart were now being expressed by a
candidate for our nation’s highest office.”
Government and congressional staffers
who supported immigration restrictions
were impressed by Trump’s speech. One
official, who joined a group of immigra
tion advisers to the campaign, told me,
“I didn’t like the candidate very much,
but he’s saying the right things about en
forcing the law.” Members of the group
went on to join the transition team and
later staff the government. “Filling those
immigration jobs in the Administration
was the top obsession. It was a shock
andawe thing,” the official said. “The
fantasy was that there’d be a table full of
executive orders that Trump would sign
and then walk away. There would be thirty
things happening on Day One, within
an hour, and there wouldn’t be enough
lawyers to handle all the litigation. They
wouldn’t even know who to sue.”A
fter Trump won the election, “Miller
didn’t even flirt with an agency or
nomination position,” a White House
official told me. “He wanted to know
what White House adviser position had
the most say on immigration.” He askedto head the Domestic Policy Council,
an influential but amorphous group in
side the White House. The position gave
him proximity to the President and in
sulation from congressional scrutiny; he
would issue, rather than implement, or
ders. “The rest of us have to testify be
fore Congress. That’s a check. If you’re
going to have your ass hauled before
Congress, you’re not going to feel com
fortable breaking the law,” a former top
Administration official told me. “Miller
will never have to testify for anything.”
Immigration restrictionists have had
a foothold in Congress for decades, but
they haven’t had access to the White
House in a century. Even among the
ideologues, Miller’s approach was dis
tinct. In his view, the more controversial
the Administration’s immigration poli
cies were, the more easily it could divide
and conquer the electorate. He had scared
Republican House leaders in 2013 by car
icaturing Democrats and moderate Re
publicans as advocates for “open bor
ders”; now he aimed to send the same
message from the White House. One of
the measures contemplated by the Pres
ident’s immigrationadvisory group was
an order to block travellers from several
Muslimmajority countries from enter
ing the U.S. The group had been pre
paring the ban so that it would survive
legal challenges, but Miller intervened.
“Miller has two impulses that he’s war
ring with,” another senior Republican
aide told me. “One is to be the bomb
thrower he always was. The other is to
try to secure victories for the President.”
In the days leading up to Trump’s Inau
guration, Miller and a close associate
named Gene Hamilton, another former
Sessions staffer in his midthirties, drafted
an executive order called “Protecting the
Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry
Into the United States”—the travel ban.
When Trump signed it, none of the
top officials at the Department of Home
land Security, which was in charge of
enforcing the ban, had been notified in
advance. Travellers with valid visas were
suddenly trapped at American airports,
unable to enter the country; refugees
who, after years of waiting, had been
vetted and approved for entry were
turned back. Thousands of protesters
and civilrights attorneys began con
gregating at airports across the coun
try, and Senators Graham and McCain