House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York unleashed a blistering attack on Stephen Miller on Friday after President Trump named him to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.
"Stephen Miller is a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands," Jeffries wrote in a post on the social platform X. "His presence in government should be eradicated like a malignant tumor. Fire him today."
Miller's promotion was expected to draw fierce resistance from Democrats, who regard the incoming chief of staff as inflammatory and a hard-liner. He has been a principal architect of Trump's strict immigration enforcement agenda and has driven some of the president's toughest policies over the years.
Last year, Miller said the administration aimed to triple daily immigration arrests to 3,000. He also said officials were actively examining the suspension of habeas corpus rights, which let people in custody challenge their detention. After federal immigration agents shot and killed two American citizens in Minneapolis, Miller described the victims as domestic terrorists.
Jeffries, the likely next Speaker of the House, was one of several Democrats who denounced the move on Friday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump had "learned nothing" from the midterm elections, in which Democrats swept back into control of both chambers of Congress.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the incoming chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, signaled that scrutiny of Miller would intensify under the new Democratic majority. "Oversight Democrats will continue to investigate Miller for his misconduct," Garcia said in a statement posted to X. "Stephen Miller should lawyer up."
Trump announced the shake-up Friday in a post to Truth Social, saying Wiles would be leaving the chief of staff role. The announcement came just days after the president dismissed a report that Wiles might depart as "TOTAL FAKE NEWS."
In the wake of the GOP's midterm losses, some Republicans, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, had argued that Wiles should be fired. But the idea of Miller taking over has unsettled some Trump allies as well, with one former aide previously calling the prospect "terrifying."
"The idea that in the last two years of Trump's administration, when he's going to be spiraling because he's a lame-duck president," former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews told MeidasTouch. "The idea of someone like a Stephen Miller in charge is a very scary thing."
