White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller — long viewed as one of the chief architects of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda — is reportedly losing influence inside the administration as other top officials gain the president’s ear.
According to a new report from The Atlantic journalists Michael Scherer and Nick Miroff, Trump has privately expressed concern that Miller’s aggressive instincts sometimes go too far, marking a notable shift for one of the president’s most loyal and powerful longtime advisers.
The report claims Trump “has also told others in recent weeks that he understands Miller sometimes goes too far.” The alleged change reportedly became more noticeable following unrest in Minneapolis and the death of protester Alex Pretti.
Trump reportedly “recognized immediately after the second killing in Minneapolis, of the protester Alex Pretti, that the policy needed to shift.” Miller, however, took a far more confrontational tone, referring to Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” in the aftermath of the incident.
For years, Miller has been one of the most influential figures in Trump’s orbit. The former Senate aide rose to prominence during Trump’s first campaign in 2016 and quickly became the driving force behind many of the administration’s toughest immigration policies, including travel bans, refugee restrictions, and mass deportation proposals.
Unlike many Trump officials who cycled in and out of the administration, Miller built a uniquely durable relationship with the president. His fiery populist rhetoric and uncompromising stance on immigration made him a hero to many MAGA voters, while critics accused him of pushing excessively punitive policies.
But according to The Atlantic, recent months have revealed growing divisions within the administration over how aggressively to pursue Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The report states that Trump backed away from several Miller-backed initiatives after consulting with border czar Tom Homan and other officials. One major example involved a proposal to slash seasonal worker visas by 50%, a move that reportedly alarmed business interests and other administration figures.
“The new secretary is listening to Tom Homan and Rodney Scott before he is ever listening to Stephen Miller,” one senior administration official told Scherer and Miroff.
Another former official summed up Miller’s changing position bluntly: “The president knows who he is, period.”
The Atlantic also reported that while there have been no known clashes between Homan and Miller, the two men have promoted very different strategies for carrying out Trump’s mass-deportation agenda.
Miller has reportedly pushed for maximizing deportation numbers as quickly as possible, while Homan has favored a more targeted approach focused on illegal immigrants with criminal records.
“There have been no accounts of clashes or tension between Homan and Miller, and the former has even praised the latter as ‘one of the most brilliant people I’ve met in my entire life,’” the report noted.
Still, Homan’s influence appears to be growing.
According to the report, the Department of Homeland Security has quietly reversed several changes Miller pushed earlier in Trump’s second term. One key example involved accelerated training for new ICE recruits.
Miller had reportedly advocated for shortening ICE academy training to roughly eight weeks in an effort to rapidly expand deportation operations. Veteran officers reportedly warned that the abbreviated training created serious concerns, especially as dropout rates surged among recruits.
“In recent weeks, ICE reverted to a four-and-a-half-month training program similar to its former academy course,” the report stated, citing three officials familiar with the matter.
Despite the apparent shift, insiders told The Atlantic that Miller remains deeply embedded in Trump’s inner circle and is not expected to leave the administration anytime soon.
“White House insiders said that Miller remains a top adviser to the president, that he has a singular relationship to Trump built over the past decade, and that his job is not in jeopardy,” Scherer and Miroff reported.
The claims stand in stark contrast to earlier reporting that portrayed Miller as perhaps the single most influential policy figure in Trump’s second administration.
A bombshell report published by The New York Times in March suggested Miller had effectively become the driving force behind major Justice Department priorities.
“It was clear from the start that Mr. Miller, who is not a lawyer, would exercise control inside the department, current and former Trump aides said,” the Times reported at the time.
Whether Miller’s reported decline in influence proves temporary or permanent remains unclear. But the emerging picture suggests that even some of Trump’s most trusted allies are now competing for influence as the administration navigates mounting political and public pressure over immigration enforcement and domestic unrest.
