Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller has outlined the administration’s preconditions for any deal regarding minors affected by Trump’s decision to rescind DACA, according to a report by McClatchy.
Miller called for switching to a merit-based immigration system, eliminating protections for unaccompanied illegal alien children, increasing the numbers of immigration enforcement officials, raising visa fees, and implementing e-verify, in a document which endorses most of the core tenets of the RAISE Act, which is also backed by the administration. Overall, there are roughly a dozen proposals mentioned in the list.
The document was provided to members of the Freedom Caucus, a deeply conservative faction of Republican Congressmen. Many members of the Freedom Caucus are strongly opposed to DACA and amnesty for illegal aliens. However, the Freedom Caucus’s Chair, Mark Meadows (R-NC), claimed that he was not provided a copy.
The Republican establishment, which has long advocated for a relaxation of immigration laws, has voiced opposition to the Miller memo.
A congressional Republican aide told McClatchy, “Stephen Miller’s agenda to try to attach 50 percent cuts to legal immigration and other provisions completely undermines the president’s desire and chances for any deal.”
After the departure of White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Miller is generally regarded as the most senior aide in the Trump administration who remains closely aligned with the President’s nationalist base. He is best known for being President Trump’s lead speechwriter, and an architect of the travel ban on migrants from war zones in the Middle East. A staunch immigration critic, Miller is said to privately prefer no deal at all, and fully enforcing the nation’s laws on illegal immigration.
If it also ends “Anchor Babies” and insures the wall will be built, it would be worth it.