Stephen Miller drives Trump’s immigration crackdown into a new phase
Miller’s role in Trump’s immigration machine matters beyond Washington because enforcement policy now shapes travel, study, business mobility and rights debates across the Atlantic.
In 30 seconds
- The White House lists Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.
- The 20 January 2025 White House order directed expanded detention, expedited removals and state-local enforcement agreements.
- The Department of State says Belgian citizens are eligible for the Visa Waiver Program if they meet ESTA and passport rules.
- Brookings researchers estimated more than 145,000 US citizen children had probably experienced parental immigration detention by May 2026.
How we got here
- 1996
The US Congress created section 287(g) authority in the Immigration and Nationality Act framework.
- 2018-06-20
Trump signed an executive order after backlash over family separations under the zero-tolerance border policy.
- 2025-01-20
Trump returned to office and issued the White House order titled “Protecting The American People Against Invasion.”
- 2025-05-20
Independent reporting documented rapid expansion of ICE 287(g) agreements with state and local agencies.
- 2025-05-30
Independent reporting said Miller and Kristi Noem pressed ICE toward a 3,000-arrests-per-day target.
Stephen Miller (US political adviser, born 1985, now listed by the White House as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser) is a long-time architect of Trump immigration policy. Donald Trump (US president, returned to office on 20 January 2025) made mass deportation a central campaign promise. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE (Department of Homeland Security agency created in 2003), carries out interior immigration arrests, detention and removals. Kristi Noem (South Dakota Republican and Trump-era homeland security secretary in 2025 reporting) was cited in immigration-enforcement escalation accounts. The Visa Waiver Program (US system allowing short tourism or business travel without a visa) includes Belgium, according to the Department of State. ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization, run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection) is required before Belgian short-stay travellers board a US-bound carrier. Brookings Institution (Washington-based research organisation founded in 1916) produced the child-separation estimate used here.
Background
The White House’s 20 January 2025 executive order revoked several Biden-era immigration directives and ordered expanded detention, expedited removals, 287(g) state-local enforcement agreements and funding reviews of NGOs serving removable migrants. The policy echoes Trump’s first term, when the 2018 “zero tolerance” border prosecution policy produced widespread family separations before Trump signed an executive order on 20 June 2018 intended to halt routine separation of families at the border. The deeper precedent is statutory: section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, created in 1996, lets local officers perform certain federal immigration functions under ICE supervision.
The wider picture
The broader issue is how a major democratic ally uses state power over borders, identity and internal enforcement. For the EU, the US approach sits beside European debates over asylum externalisation, return policy and security screening. Washington’s choices can influence global norms because the United States remains a benchmark for rights litigation, migration control and executive authority.
Why now
The lead is timely because a new documentary focus on Miller lands after more than a year of second-term Trump immigration actions, including the 20 January 2025 executive order, expanded enforcement reporting and May 2026 research estimating the impact on US citizen children.
What happens next
Watch for US court decisions on detention and arrest practices, new DHS or ICE detention data, changes to ESTA or visa guidance, and any congressional funding fights over immigration enforcement. Belgian readers with US travel should monitor official Department of State and CBP guidance before departure.
What to do
Belgian citizens planning short US trips should check ESTA status before booking non-refundable travel, carry documents matching the purpose of travel, and remember that ESTA is not a right of entry. Students, researchers and workers need the correct visa category, not Visa Waiver travel, when the trip involves study for credit, employment or longer stays.
EvidenceWell established · 1 primary source + 2 official documents + 3 independent reporting sources · Academic sources: 1Explore evidence →Hide evidence ↑
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