Documents Show Further Details of Stephen Miller’s Efforts to Push Anti-Immigrant Policies
American Oversight obtained another set of communications that reveal more about Stephen Miller’s work with the Justice Department promoting anti-immigrant policies, including family separation.
This week, American Oversight received another set of records in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller’s communications.
The documents show more direct contact between Miller and senior officials at the Department of Justice in 2017 and 2018, in which they discussed immigration policies, including family separation.
In some cases, Miller appeared to encourage or request then-Justice Department Director of Public Affairs Sarah Isgur Flores to promote anti-immigrant messages in then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ public appearances.
For example, on Jan. 16, 2018, Stephen Miller emailed Flores and DOJ lawyer Gene Hamilton requesting that Sessions give a speech on a report, the name of which is redacted. The subsequent email chain shows Flores suggesting using it in an upcoming Pittsburgh trip, then saying that she was “[w]orking on an event in Norfolk for next week.” Sessions’ Norfolk speech on Jan. 26 discussed a report on Immigration and Customs Enforcement removals of people “with national security concerns.”
The documents also show Miller working on the family-separation policies that have left hundreds of families still torn apart. For example, he was involved in a May 29, 2018, email chain with a subject line that mentions “family separation.” Also on the email were Flores, Hamilton, and then-DOJ communications staffer Devin O’Malley.
The next month Miller and Hamilton were looped in on an external messaging request from a conservative talking head. On June 14, CNN commentator Alice Stewart emailed White House special assistant and former Breitbart writer Julia Hahn with a plea that was later circulated to the pair: “Do you have any talkers on the zero tolerance policy on the border? I’m getting killed for being a Christian and not speaking up against the policies that take kids away from parents.”
That same day, Miller copied Hamilton on an email to O’Malley regarding a report that he had been sent to Miller from White House staffer John Zadrozny, an ally of Miller. According to the report, Catholic leaders were suggesting “canonical” penalties for those who had collaborated on Trump’s restrictive asylum policies. Miller asked O’Malley to call him.
Documents previously released as part of American Oversight’s ongoing investigation into Miller’s influence showed his close working relationship with current and former members of anti-immigrant extremist groups as well as his coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services on family separation. More information about what we’ve uncovered can also be found in our timeline of documents we’ve obtained showing his meetings and communications over the years.