Trump names architect of his immigration policy, Stephen Miller, as White House chief of staff

In the first shake-up at the White House following the disastrous midterm elections for the Republican Party, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday the appointment of one of his most hardline advisors on immigration, Stephen Miller, as his new chief of staff. Miller replaces Susie Wiles, in what appears to signal a shift by the president toward even tougher stances in this new phase of his second term.Miller, Trump’s advisor on domestic policy, Wiles’s “number two,” and one of the men who has consistently stood by the president since Trump’s first election campaign, holds extremely hardline positions on immigration — to the point that the president had joked that they were too radical even for him.Wiles, who is credited with keeping the White House running as a highly disciplined operation over the past year and a half, had been the subject of controversy in recent weeks, after it came to light that her daughter, Katie, works for a U.S. lobbying firm that signed a contract in February worth $35,000 a month to represent the Republika Srpska, a Serb-majority entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Two other senior officials from the Trump campaign who had worked with Wiles — James Blair and Chris LaCivita — traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina in early October to help secure the victory last Sunday for the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD, by its Serbian acronym), led by the pro-Russian Milorad Dodik. The incident sparked a political storm among Republicans in the United States just four weeks before the election. The separatist Dodik is the strongman of the Republika Srpska.The announcement of Wiles being replaced came three days after voters dealt a resounding blow to the Republicans in the midterms, handing the Democratic opposition its largest majority in Congress in decades. Trump himself made the announcement via his favorite media outlet, his social media platform Truth.“I am pleased to announce that Mr. Stephen Miller, the current Deputy Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration, and one of my most trusted advisors, will become the Chief of Staff starting Monday, November 9, 2026. Susie Wiles, who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!” the president wrote.At just 40 years old, Miller has managed to earn the U.S. president’s trust over a decade of collaboration. He is his chief ideologue, his advisor on domestic policy, and the architect of some of his toughest initiatives, including his strategy of mass deportations at all costs to combat immigration. And his influence is extending, more and more, to foreign policy as well.His ultra-nationalist ideas fit like a glove with Trump’s worldview, in which the United States dictates terms through negotiation or coercion — the former for friendly nations, the latter for more recalcitrant governments — while respecting the sphere of influence of other major powers and reducing the rest of the world to mere vassals who follow directives without a right to dissent.Wiles’ departure appears to be linked to this resounding American rejection of Trumpism. The former chief of staff submitted her resignation to the president on Thursday night, according to a senior White House official. “Today is my last day as White House chief of staff,” the former advisor wrote on social media platform X. “Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime. I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First. More than anything, I’m grateful for the extraordinary people I’ve had the privilege of working alongside. While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will.”Miller is one of the figures in the Trump administration most despised by Democratic lawmakers for his extremely hardline positions. After the results of Tuesday’s elections were gradually released, and the extent of the rejection of his policies became clear, the U.S. president had hinted at the possibility of collaborating with the new Democratic-controlled Congress. But the appointment of this radical adviser could lay the groundwork for a much more contentious relationship.“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” Miller argued in January during an interview with CNN, in which he maintained that the United States could take over Greenland because “we’re a superpower.” “These are the iron laws of the world,” he emphasized. The Republican administration ultimately reached an agreement with the autonomous territory under Danish sovereignty and with Copenhagen to increase its presence on the island, but without actually taking control of it or buying it, as Trump had demanded in the first months of his term.Miller’s worldview permeates Trump’s new foreign policy, outlined in last December’s National Security Strategy, in which the White House declares the Americas its top priority. It also identifies immigration and drug trafficking — Miller’s greatest fears — as the primary international risks facing the country.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition