Stephen Miller, campaign advisor for Donald Trump, speaks at a campaign rally for former U.S. President Trump in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Nov. 3, 2024.Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is expected to name long-time adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, to be the deputy chief of policy in his new administration.
Mr. Miller is one of Mr. Trump’s longest-serving aides, dating back to his first campaign for the White House. He was a senior adviser in Mr. Trump’s first term and has been a central figure in many of his policy decisions, particularly on immigration, including Mr. Trump’s move to separate thousands of immigrant families as a deterrence program in 2018.
Mr. Miller has also helped craft many of Mr. Trump’s hard-line speeches, and was often the public face of those policies during Mr. Trump’s first term in office and during his campaigns.
Vice-president-elect JD Vance posted a message of congratulations on Monday to Mr. Miller on X and said, “This is another fantastic pick by the president.” Mr. Miller’s expected appointment was first reported by CNN.
Meanwhile, Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s incoming “border czar,” said on Monday he would prioritize deporting immigrants in the United States illegally who pose threats to public safety and national security as well as employers who hire immigrants without legal status.
Mr. Trump, who takes office in January, said in a social media post overnight that the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from his first administration would be in charge of the country’s borders in his new administration starting Jan. 20.
The president-elect made cracking down on illegal immigration the central element of his campaign, promising mass deportations. He is expected to mobilize agencies across the U.S. government to help him deport record numbers of immigrants in an operation that Mr. Vance has said could remove an estimated one million people per year.
“Public safety threats and national security threats will be the priority … they pose the most danger to this country,” Mr. Homan told Fox News in an interview, adding: “Worksite operations have to happen.”
Mr. Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform late on Sunday, said Mr. Homan will be “in charge of our nation’s borders (”The Border Czar”), including, but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security,” including the deportation of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
Immigrant advocates have warned that Mr. Trump’s deportation effort would be costly, divisive and inhumane, leading to family separations and devastating communities.
Mr. Homan, who was often praised by Mr. Trump during the campaign and who campaigned for him, said he would also focus on immigrants ordered to leave after a failed asylum claims.
“At the end of that due process, if the judge says you must go home, then we have to take them home,” Mr. Homan told Fox.
He said he would like to have co-operation from local law enforcement but if Democrat-led “sanctuary” jurisdictions such as New York City resist, he would consider sending in more ICE officers.
“We’re going to do the job without you or with you,” Mr. Homan said.
While ICE executed several large-scale worksite raids during Mr. Trump’s first term, the number of employers arrested for hiring immigrants in the U.S. illegally fell compared with his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, agency statistics show.
Groups favouring lower levels of immigration have long said increased enforcement against employers could reduce incentives for illegal immigration.
Mr. Homan was among several top Trump immigration officials who in 2018 recommended the administration implement a stringent border policy that resulted in thousands of migrant families being separated at the border.
While Mr. Trump has refused to rule out revisiting the separations, Mr. Homan said last year that a better approach would be to detain families together.
Mr. Trump has not yet said who he would nominate to serve as head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the U.S. Border Patrol, as he continues to meet with potential candidates for his administration.
Chad Wolf, who served as acting homeland security secretary for part of Mr. Trump’s first presidency, and U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green could be top contenders.
Meanwhile, the president-elect selected U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, sources said on Monday, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as America’s top diplomat once the Republican president-elect takes office in January. Mr. Trump has chosen Republican Representative Elise Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the president-elect said in a statement shared with Reuters on Monday.
“I am honoured to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Mr. Trump said.
Elise Stefanik speaks during a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Dec. 5, 2023.Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Ms. Stefanik, 40, a New York representative and House Republican Conference chair, has been a fierce Trump ally.
She could not be immediately reached for comment.
The United Nations has been planning for Mr. Trump’s return and the cuts to U.S. funding and engagement with the world body that are likely to come with his second term as president.
A U.S. retreat at the UN could open the door for China, which has been building its influence in global diplomacy.
Mr. Trump has offered few specifics about foreign policy in his second term but supporters say the force of his personality and his “peace through strength” approach will help bend foreign leaders to his will. He has vowed to solve the war in Ukraine and is expected to give strong support to Israel in its conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Among the top concerns at the UN are whether the United States will decide to contribute less money to the 193-member world body and withdraw from key multinational institutions and agreements, including the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon congratulated Ms. Stefanik on her nomination on Monday. “At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the U.N., your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever. Wishing you success in standing firm for truth and justice,” he said in a post on social-media platform X.
Ms. Stefanik took a Republican leadership position in the House of Representatives in 2021 when she was elected to replace Liz Cheney, who was ousted for criticizing Mr. Trump’s continued false claims of election fraud.
Her first turn in the national limelight came when she mounted an impassioned defence of Mr. Trump at his first impeachment trial in 2019, leading the then-president to declare that “a star is born.”
Ms. Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress when she first won her district, which had voted twice for Democratic President Barack Obama and had been represented by Democrats in Congress since 1993.
She was seen as a potential vice-president pick for Mr. Trump before he selected JD Vance.
Mr. Trump said on Saturday that former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley will not be asked to join his administration.
Ms. Haley served as the U.S. ambassador to the UN under Mr. Trump during his previous term and had endorsed Mr. Trump for president despite having criticized him harshly when she ran against him in the party primaries.
Michael Waltz speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024.Mike Segar/Reuters
Mr. Trump also picked Republican Representative Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, tapping a retired Army Green Beret who has been a leading critic of China.
Mr. Waltz, a Trump loyalist who also served in the National Guard as a colonel, has criticized Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and has voiced the need for the United States to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.
The national security adviser is a powerful role, which does not require Senate confirmation. Mr. Waltz will be responsible for briefing Mr. Trump on key national security issues and co-ordinating with different agencies.
While slamming the Biden administration for a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Mr. Waltz has publicly praised Mr. Trump’s foreign policy views.
“Disruptors are often not nice … frankly our national security establishment and certainly a lot of people that are dug into bad old habits in the Pentagon need that disruption,” Mr. Waltz said during an event earlier this year.
“Donald Trump is that disruptor,” he said.
With a report from The Associated Press
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will be in charge of the country's borders in his new administration. CNN also reported that Trump had offered the job of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to his fierce ally, Republican Representative Elise Stefanik.
Reuters