President Donald Trump has named immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, putting the architect of his immigration crackdown in charge of the president’s staff, schedule and access. Miller will take over on Monday 9 November, replacing Susie Wiles, who resigned on Thursday night.
Trump announced the appointment on Friday 6 November, three days after the midterm elections gave Democrats control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The change places one of his longest-serving advisers at the centre of the White House as congressional Democrats prepare to investigate the administration’s immigration enforcement.
Miller, 41, is currently deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser. He has served Trump since 2016 and has helped shape the immigration policies that have become a defining part of the president’s administration.
Explaining his choice to reporters, Trump said: “Stephen’s been with me since the beginning. He gets it.” The brief endorsement emphasised Miller’s longstanding relationship with the president rather than setting out a new policy direction following the election defeat.
Immigration architect becomes White House gatekeeper
The chief of staff’s responsibilities extend beyond any single area of policy. The office controls the president’s schedule, manages White House staff and determines access to him. Miller’s promotion therefore gives the official most closely associated with the immigration crackdown a broader role in the running of the administration.
His existing responsibilities have already put him at the centre of homeland security policy. He has driven the push for 3,000 immigration arrests a day, as well as the purge of the federal civil service and the administration’s fights with universities.
The arrest figure is a target, not a verified account of how many people have been detained each day. It nevertheless illustrates the scale of the enforcement effort Miller has advocated and the policy agenda he brings to his new position.
Miller is also closely associated with masked immigration raids and mass removals. His appointment puts that record at the heart of White House management, rather than separating the chief of staff’s role from the policies now facing Democratic scrutiny.
A poll conducted this week put approval of the immigration crackdown at 36 per cent, with 54 per cent disapproving. Those figures concern the crackdown specifically, rather than Miller’s appointment or Trump’s overall performance as president.
Wiles leaves after running staff since January 2025
Wiles, the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, had run the president’s staff since January 2025. She resigned on the night of Thursday 5 November and will move to Trump’s political operation.
Her departure ends her tenure in the White House’s senior staff post, but not her involvement in the president’s wider organisation. No further details of her new responsibilities have been supplied, and the reasons for her resignation have not been established.
The transition is a short one. Trump announced Miller’s appointment the day after Wiles resigned, with his start date set for the following Monday. He will move into the role from a position that already combines senior staff duties with responsibility for homeland security advice.
Deputy chief of staff Richard Walters also departed over the weekend as part of the wider staff shake-up. The supplied details do not establish a reason for his departure or identify a replacement.
Democrats prepare scrutiny of immigration enforcement
The appointment drew criticism from the Democratic leaders whose party won control of Congress on 3 November. Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become House speaker, called Miller a “reckless extremist”. Chuck Schumer said Trump had “learned nothing”.
Those reactions underline the disagreement between the incoming congressional majority and the president’s choice of chief of staff. Trump has promoted an adviser identified with the administration’s existing enforcement programme rather than announced a retreat from it.
Congressional Democrats have said they will investigate Miller’s role in immigration enforcement. Their election victories will put them in control of committees with subpoena power, creating a route to examine decisions taken within the administration.
Miller’s promotion does not establish how the White House will respond to those investigations. Nor does the appointment alone determine whether Trump will seek agreements with Democrats or rely on executive action. It does, however, place a central figure in the policies Democrats want to scrutinise in the office responsible for managing presidential access and staff.
The immediate next step is Miller’s arrival as chief of staff on Monday. Beyond the personnel transition, the question is how an administration retaining a leading advocate of its immigration crackdown will deal with a Congress now controlled by its opponents.
