Stephen Miller will become White House chief of staff on Monday, 9 November, after President Donald Trump named the architect of his immigration crackdown to the most powerful staff job in the White House. Trump announced the change in a social media post on Friday, 6 November, days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.
Stephen Miller replaces Susie Wiles, who said Friday would be her last day in the post. Wiles was the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, and she is expected to move to a role in Trump’s political operation. Trump defended the choice of Miller in his announcement, describing him as a loyal member of his team.
Stephen Miller and the immigration crackdown
Stephen Miller has served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and as homeland security adviser since Trump returned to office in January 2025. He was a leading immigration adviser in Trump’s first term and has shaped the administration’s border and deportation policy in the second term.
In September, The Guardian reported that Stephen Miller was coordinating work across at least five cabinet departments to speed the removal of migrant children. The report, based on an analysis of immigration court data by the advocacy group Mobile Pathways, said judges had ordered almost 200,000 children removed since January 2025.
Miller was a senior adviser and speechwriter in Trump’s first term, and he helped shape the travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries in 2017. He returned to the White House in 2025 with a wider brief, covering policy across departments rather than immigration alone. His rise has made him one of the most recognisable figures in the administration, and one of the most criticised by Democrats.
The Guardian also reported in September that Stephen Miller had taken a leading role in the decision to strike boats off Venezuela that the administration said were carrying drugs. The report, based on accounts from people familiar with the decision, said his role at times went beyond that of the secretary of state and the national security adviser.
Democrats criticised the appointment within hours of the announcement. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer was among those who spoke against the choice, and other Democrats pointed to his record on immigration as a reason to oppose him taking the staff job.
Why the change came after the midterms
The announcement followed a heavy defeat for Republicans in the midterm elections on Tuesday, when Democrats won control of Congress. Neither Trump nor Wiles gave a stated reason for the change in the reports that followed the announcement, and the timing has been read in Washington as a response to the election result.
Politico reported in October that Trump was considering removing Wiles and putting Stephen Miller in her place. The report came weeks before the election and before Wiles announced her departure. Wiles had run Trump’s 2024 campaign before taking the chief of staff job.
Wiles came to the White House after decades in Florida politics, where she ran campaigns and advised Republican candidates. She was widely seen as a steadying presence in the first months of the second term, and her departure removes one of the few senior aides who had worked with Trump since his first campaign in 2016.
What Stephen Miller takes over
The chief of staff runs the White House staff, controls access to the president and manages the flow of decisions through the building. Miller will take that job while keeping the policy brief that has made him the central figure in the administration’s immigration work.
It is not yet clear who will take over Miller’s deputy chief of staff role, and no statement from Miller about the appointment was included in the first reports. The White House has not set out how his duties will be divided once he moves into the top staff job.
Stephen Miller is due to start as chief of staff on Monday, 9 November. Wiles leaves the post after serving through the first 10 months of Trump’s second term.