Stephen Miller, now serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser in Trump’s second administration, is one of the most influential and polarizing figures in the current White House. Born on August 23, 1985, in Santa Monica, California, he was raised in a liberal Jewish household. His political transformation started early: as a teenager he began voicing conservative positions, notably after reading Wayne LaPierre’s Guns, Crime, and Freedom, and railing against what he viewed as a liberal bias in his high school environment.
He attended Duke University, where he immersed himself in conservative activism, serving as executive director of the Duke Conservative Union, writing opinion pieces, and engaging in campus debates over free expression and ideology. His early public voice showed a combative style and an ideological clarity that would follow him into politics.
After graduation he landed roles with Republican members of Congress, including Michele Bachmann and John Shadegg, and in 2009 became communications director for Senator Jeff Sessions. In that capacity he helped shape messaging around immigration reform and forged connections within the conservative policy world. During Trump’s 2016 campaign he joined as a senior policy adviser and speechwriter. In the first Trump administration he served as a senior adviser and director of speechwriting, earning credit (and criticism) for imposing a tough line on immigration, drafting the executive order barring travel from certain Muslim-majority countries, and guiding the design of policies that separated families at the southern border.
After Trump’s first term ended, Miller remained active in right-wing legal and policy circles, founding America First Legal, an organization dedicated to challenging the Biden administration on immigration, speech, and regulatory issues. With Trump’s return to office in 2025, Miller’s old influence grew again: he was tapped to take on twin roles as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser, consolidating his role as a principal architect of domestic policy.
Miller’s style in office combines ideological rigor with aggressive institutional strategy. He pushes for sweeping changes: denouncing birthright citizenship, accelerating deportations, limiting asylum protections, expanding executive power, and reorienting government agencies toward nationalist priorities. Critics argue he operates at the edge of constitutional norms, accelerating confrontations with courts and agencies resistant to his agenda. Supporters say he is executing a bold agenda that fulfills campaign promises.
Whether admired as a visionary or condemned as an extremist, Stephen Miller is now one of the central forces in Trump’s new administration — weaving between policy, legal muscle, and political warfare.