Stephen Miller Defends Hardline Immigration Policies In Press Gaggle With Reporters

Forbes Breaking News

Stephen Miller holds a press gaggle outside the White House.

Transcript

00:00I have a conference call that I need to run to, but since you all are graciously gathered here,

00:07I'll take a few questions. And I think you also just had like an hour with Caroline,

00:10so I don't want to step on that too much either. Hold on, there's a question back there first.

00:14I have two quick questions. First, you know, President Trump has talked about potentially

00:19suspending via corpus to take care of the illegal immigration problem. When could we see that

00:25happen, do you think? Well, the Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of

00:30the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion.

00:36So to say that's an option we're actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts

00:41do the right thing or not. At the end of the day, Congress passed a body of law known as the Immigration

00:47Nationality Act, which stripped Article III courts, that's the judicial branch of jurisdiction over

00:53immigration cases. So Congress actually passed, it's called jurisdiction stripping legislation.

00:58It passed a number of laws that say that the Article III courts aren't even allowed to be involved in

01:03immigration cases. Many of you probably don't know this. I'll give you a good example.

01:07Are you familiar with the term temporary protected status, or TPS, right? So by statute, the courts are

01:15stripped of jurisdiction from overruling a presidential determination or a secretarial determination

01:21on TPS, when the Secretary of Homeland Security makes that determination. So when Secretary Noem

01:26terminated TPS for the illegals that Biden flew into the country, when courts stepped in, they were

01:31violating explicit language that Congress had enacted, saying they have no jurisdiction. So it's

01:37not just the courts aren't just at war with the executive branch. The courts are at war, these radical

01:42rogue judges, with the legislative branch as well, too. So all of that will inform the choices the

01:46president ultimately makes. Yes. Mr. Miller, to further incentivize deportation of illegal aliens,

01:51is the administration considering going after businesses that knowingly employ illegal aliens?

01:56Well, they already have. Worksite enforcement, I don't have the exact statistics, but it's at multiple

02:00hundreds of percent. So the increase in worksite enforcement has been dramatic, it's been immediate,

02:08and that will continue. Why is President Trump moving to dismiss three Democratic members of the

02:13Consumer Product Safety Commission? Well, I think Caroline answered this question at the briefing

02:17today. The president is the head of the executive branch, and it's the president's prerogative to

02:22ensure that all executive branch employees are the best, the brightest, the most committed to fulfilling

02:28the agenda that they have, whether it be in their agency or any post in government. Is the president

02:33going to replace them? Well, again, we'll take a look at the situation, but the important thing is,

02:38or I will take a look, sorry, I'll take a look at the specifics that you're talking about here,

02:41but the important thing to understand is that we don't just let people stay in their jobs just because

02:46they were always there, right? We have to examine the performance of specific employees, whether

02:51they're doing the best that they can do. I know that in particular, as a parent, there's been lots of

02:55concerns that I've had, that my family's had about product safety in this country. We can absolutely do

03:00better, and we will do better, but that requires hiring the best people for the job, and President

03:04Trump will always hire the best people for the job. Yes. When we talk to the president's voters,

03:08they bring up a couple issues. One, they spent three months, and they still haven't gotten down

03:12to the 2020 election. They're concerned about the whole voting situation, and they also want to

03:19know about what happened to the assassination of them. Those are all great questions. They're really

03:25concerned. Those are all great questions. The Department of Justice, of course, is working on all three of the

03:29things that you just mentioned, and hopefully we'll have a further update soon. I can tell you on

03:33election integrity that the president recently signed an executive order that was the most

03:38comprehensive election integrity order that was ever issued, and as you may recall, that included in

03:44a requirement to verify citizenship to vote. Another example where a district court judge lawlessly

03:50intervened and joined that requirement. Now, think about this. Congress passed a law. Again,

03:55Congress passed a law making it a crime, a felony for noncitizens to vote, and yet a judge has enjoined

04:03the executive branch from enforcing and upholding that statutory requirement. So the courts,

04:09the radical rogue judges, they don't care what Congress said. They don't care about what the

04:13Constitution says. They're just imposing their own Marxist agenda on the whole country, and that's

04:17obviously... They want to follow up on journalism. Yeah. So, I mean, again, the Department of Justice

04:21is investigating all of the issues that you mentioned. I wish I had a full update for you

04:25now, but I can assure you that our attorney general, our deputy attorney general, our FBI

04:29director, and now Ed Martin at the Weaponization Working Group will all be, and of course we put up a

04:34new D.C. attorney, will all be diligently working on ensuring accountability and justice. Yes,

04:39I have a question. Tom Homan used some colorful language earlier this year to describe how he

04:45would be demanding accountability from New York City Mayor Eric Adams if he didn't cooperate

04:51with ICE. Is Eric Adams holding up his end of the bargain thus far? All I would say to that is

04:57this administration is going to pursue immigration enforcement and cooperation in every city,

05:05and anyone who doesn't comply with the laws and dictates of this country will face the appropriate

05:11legal consequences. That applies to Eric Adams, and that applies to every other mayor in this country.

05:16The law is the law is the law, and if obstruction, if hindering, if harboring occurs, then the full

05:22range of potential penalties applies to any federal official, sorry, any state official or local

05:27official that's engaging in obstructionist behavior. But I would also say that when it comes to

05:33immigration enforcement now that we have achieved the mission of sealing the border, you're going

05:40to see more and more resources and priorities put into the mass deportation program. And so on a day

05:45to day basis, you're going to see exponentially larger numbers of illegal aliens being arrested

05:49and removed from the interior. How serious? Thank you. So can you share with us where the illegal immigrants

05:55that will be deported to Angola, Rwanda, those African nations are, which condition they are, and

06:01when are you guys planning to send them back to Africa? Well, we get illegal aliens, or we did get

06:08illegal aliens during the Biden administration from 150 countries. So ICE sends planes to every country

06:15in the world. We send planes to Iraq. We send planes to Yemen. We send planes to Haiti. We send planes

06:23to Angola. I mean, ICE is sending planes all over the world all the time. Anyone who came here illegally,

06:28we're finding them and we're getting them out. Any other questions? Yes, back there. Yes.

06:33Thank you, Stephen. So it looks like we're going to see a lot of port workers and truck drivers

06:37displaced by the tariffs in the coming weeks. Does the administration have any plan for relief

06:42from those workers, sort of like what you did in the first term when you correct cultural workers

06:46that's an impact? Well, what I would focus on is the fact that we're actually going to begin enacting,

06:50as you've seen, a series of historic trade deals. They're going to be opening up the export market

06:55for American producers, both manufacturers, growers, ranchers as never before. And so what's going to

07:01begin happening now because of the president's leadership on tariffs is markets that have

07:06historically been closed. So obviously India, Japan, South Korea, the UK are now going to be open to

07:13American exports and American production. I would also just note that if you look at the statistics,

07:18about 90,000 factories in the United States closed since NAFTA was signed, which is an almost

07:24unimaginable figure. The media never cared about those workers and their factories who were

07:33destroyed. And we can all visit the towns now. And we know, of course, the heartbreaking stories,

07:36the fentanyl addiction, the breakup of traditional families, the disintegration of whole communities.

07:43That was the catastrophe that occurred that President Trump is reversing by finally standing up

07:48for the American worker. Yes. That's a really exciting news story, isn't it?

08:03Well, because what's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program

08:08was created. This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race.

08:14So this is race-based persecution. The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global

08:20poverty. And historically, it has been used that way. Wherever there's global poverty or wherever

08:24there's dysfunctional governments, then the U.S. refugee program comes in, swoops people up,

08:30relocates them to America, and you have multi-generational problems. Even into the second and third

08:36generation, you have endemic poverty, you have crime issues, you have integration issues. The U.S.

08:41refugee program in America has been a catastrophic failure. I mean, if you look, for example, at the

08:47Twin Cities area, I mean, just in terms of markers of educational outcomes, in terms of public safety,

08:56in terms of welfare use, I mean, it's been a complete public policy failure. And so this is an example of

09:03the president returning the refugee program to what it was intended to be used as.

09:07What evidence do you have?

09:09What specific evidence do you have that do?

09:11So let me just take this one first. Thanks.

09:12Is the president having a conversation with you about becoming the national security

09:17advisor at which you accept?

09:18I'm very thrilled with the job that I currently have. And my focus right now is on supporting

09:24Secretary Rubio. Marco and I have become very close friends, well, especially over the last 100 days,

09:29but even before then. And I could not be more excited to work with Marco, who is truly one of

09:34the all-stars of this government, both in his role as secretary of state and his role as national

09:38security advisor. And I think the whole country is going to continue to see just how incredible Marco is.

09:42What specific evidence the United States have that those South Africans have been persecuted?

09:50Well, it's state policy. There's land expropriation. There's a whole series of government laws and

09:56policies that specifically target white farmers and the white population in South Africa that's

10:01well-documented on video. And of course, you even see government leaders chanting racial epithets

10:07and espousing racial violence. So it's all very well-documented.

10:09On Ukraine, are you in a position to confirm with a kill or keep alive the reports that you have

10:13been asking Ukraine, a mortal country, to accept some illegal immigrants and why?

10:17I've never heard that before.

10:19Hold on. Yes. Yes.

10:21The president foreshadowed that he was going to be making a very big announcement yesterday,

10:25today, maybe Monday. I know you may, you know, you're not going to get ahead of the president.

10:29Can you give us a hint? No, I'm not going to get ahead of the president. Yes.

10:34Did you have a question?

10:35Will you be involved with the meetings with Mayor Adams today? And what do you plan to discuss?

10:40I'm not involved in those meetings. Do you have a question?

10:42Yes. So the current governor of California has been extremely rude to President Trump in

10:47your administration. What is the status of their litigation on the tariff issues and all the

10:51issues? I don't have an update on that. Sorry. Yes. Yes. Do you have, of the South African refugees,

10:59how many are coming and when will they arrive? Well, we just have the first flight is scheduled,

11:04I believe, for early next week. But that's just where in the U.S. Well, I don't have,

11:09I don't have an exact update for you on that yet. I don't want to confirm any news reports,

11:13but the, but that's just the beginning of what's going to be a much larger scale relocation effort.

11:20And so those numbers are going to increase, obviously, as time goes on. It takes a little

11:23while to set up the systems and processes and procedures to begin a new refugee flow,

11:28but we expect that the pace will increase. It'll increase at a healthy pace as time goes on.

11:33Yes, back there. Do you have a number for a company on the first flight?

11:36Not right now. Yep, back there.

11:41Yeah, my reaction is, again, there's a judicial coup in this country.

11:52The foreigners in this country do not have a right to stay in this country if they support

11:58designated terrorist organizations like Hamas. Hamas is a designated terrorist organization.

12:04The secretary of state has the absolute authority under statute, which again,

12:07is not judicially reviewable to revoke an immigration benefit or visa and then to pursue

12:13a deportation of the Department of Homeland Security. We cannot individually litigate in court every

12:17single visa that we want to revoke. This is a plenary authority of the executive branch. And I would just

12:23say that look at what it really comes down to is this. The American people voted for President Trump

12:30in large part to seal the border, deport the illegals, fix their immigration system so it serves

12:36America's interests and remove the people from this country that we don't want here because they

12:40threaten our national security, our public safety or our economic security. That is what he was elected to do.

12:46It's what the Constitution empowers him to do. And this judicial coup by a handful of Marxist judges

12:52to frustrate that effort can only be understood as an attack on democracy. Thank you.

12:56Thank you, Mr. Miller.

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