海角大神

Stephen Miller was a sophomore in high school, back in the early 2000s, when he began drawing attention for his outspoken conservative views.聽

At California鈥檚 Santa Monica High, a big, diverse public school with many immigrants and children of immigrants, Mr. Miller went around campus saying 鈥渆veryone and their parents should speak English 鈥� or get out of the country,鈥� says Kesha Ram, a Santa Monica alum whose father immigrated from India.

鈥淗e鈥檇 walk up to you, and hit you with a barrage of dubious statements that would leave you breathless,鈥� says Ms. Ram, a former Democratic state legislator in Vermont who has known Mr. Miller, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, since middle school. 鈥淟ike, how much carbon dioxide volcanoes emit into the atmosphere, versus a car.鈥�

Today, Mr. Miller鈥檚 style is no less provocative 鈥� and his far-right views lie at the center of controversy amid a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and upheaval at the Department of Homeland Security. With a singular, hawkish focus on immigration, Mr. Miller has been portrayed as the puppet master behind the scenes, pulling the strings on immigration and border policy.

His fingerprints are everywhere. As White House director of speech writing, he鈥檚 had a hand in shaping Mr. Trump鈥檚 most memorable public addresses 鈥� from the Inauguration Day promise to end 鈥淎merican carnage鈥� to the Oval Office speech in January that depicted violence by 鈥渋llegal aliens鈥� as 鈥渁 crisis of the soul.鈥�

Mr. Miller was reportedly behind the abrupt withdrawal last week of Ron Vitiello as Mr. Trump鈥檚 nominee to become director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after Mr. Miller told the president that Mr. Vitiello did not support the idea of closing the Southern border, as Mr. Trump has threatened to do. And according to , Mr. Miller was involved in a White House proposal to move detained immigrants to sanctuary cities as a form of political retribution against Democrats. Mr. Trump that the White House was considering the idea.

Mr. Miller鈥檚 few public appearances as a White House official have been fiery. Early in Mr. Trump鈥檚 tenure, soon after the announcement of the so-called travel ban that Mr. Miller helped craft, he on TV that the president鈥檚 national security decisions 鈥渨ill not be questioned.鈥� In August 2017, Mr. Miller appeared in the White House briefing room to discuss his plan to cut legal immigration in half, and got into a with CNN鈥檚 Jim Acosta over the meaning of the Statue of Liberty.

Yet as one of Mr. Trump鈥檚 longest-lasting aides, he has generally kept a low profile, seeming to understand that in Mr. Trump鈥檚 orbit, it鈥檚 never good to eclipse the president.

Indeed, when Mr. Trump was asked by a reporter this week if he might put Mr. Miller in charge of the Department of Homeland Security 鈥� since, the reporter said, he鈥檚 basically already running it 鈥� the president replied: 鈥淪tephen is an excellent guy,鈥� but 鈥渢here鈥檚 only one person that鈥檚 running it. 鈥� It鈥檚 me.鈥�

This assertion points to a core truth of this presidency: On the issues Mr. Trump cares deeply about, such as immigration, he鈥檚 really the boss. Mr. Trump鈥檚 dire talk of Mexican drug dealers and rapists on day one of his 2016 campaign was all him.

But the young, ambitious Mr. Miller has the president鈥檚 ear, and knows how to play to his worldview. He also knows how to work the bureaucracy. Mr. Miller鈥檚 deeply held vision on immigration doesn鈥檛 always carry the day, but his proximity to Mr. Trump makes him extraordinarily powerful all the same.

Good cop, bad cop

While Mr. Miller may appear ascendant these days, he is not the sole power center in the White House on immigration policy.聽聽

Jared Kushner, another top Trump aide and the president鈥檚 son-in-law, is also deeply involved in immigration, working for months on a separate, legislative track on Capitol Hill, centered on legal immigration and border security. Like Mr. Miller, the more genteel Mr. Kushner also tends to operate behind the scenes, and of late has been working with Vice President Mike Pence on an immigration reform package in Congress 鈥� including an increase in some legal forms of immigration. Mr. Miller鈥檚 modus operandi, by contrast, is unilateral presidential action over the painstaking work of legislating.聽聽

This apparent 鈥済ood-cop, bad-cop鈥� routine is classic Trump management style. The president has long been known to enjoy watching aides duke it out over policy. And the January arrival of budget chief Mick Mulvaney as acting chief of staff 鈥� whose more open approach to Oval Office access contrasts sharply with that of Gen. John Kelly, his predecessor 鈥� has only added to the freewheeling atmosphere at the White House.

Yet the apparently disparate approaches on immigration aren鈥檛 as contradictory as they may seem, says Dan Stein, president of the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), who attends White House meetings on immigration. Mr. Kushner is working the legislative track, while Mr. Miller is working on execution of current policies, he says.

Mr. Trump asked Mr. Kushner to work on immigration legislation following the son-in-law鈥檚 success on criminal justice reform. White House officials portray a good working relationship between Mr. Miller and Mr. Kushner, who are both Jewish and in their 30s. Last weekend, after the two traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with the president, Mr. Miller attended a dinner at the home of Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, an official said.

In fact, getting along with Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump is essential for job security in this White House. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the deal, you just can鈥檛 have them mad at you,鈥� says a source connected to the Trump White House.

Mr. Miller has also had to learn that the boss can be rhetorically unpredictable. In the State of the Union address in February, Mr. Trump spoke of how immigration enriches the country, then said, 鈥淚 want people to come into our country, in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.鈥� The phrase 鈥渋n the largest numbers ever鈥� was ad-libbed, the president confirmed the next day.

Yet this week, Mr. Trump鈥檚 message to migrants arriving on the border was blunt: 鈥淥ur country is full.鈥澛燞e made the comment both to border patrol agents, and then in remarks in Las Vegas to the Republican Jewish Coalition. To some , the timing of Mr. Trump鈥檚 comment could not go unremarked. Next month is the 80th anniversary of the voyage of the St. Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees fleeing Germany who were denied entry to the U.S.

Mr. Trump鈥檚 own good-cop, bad-cop routine also appears intentional.

鈥淗is statement in the State of the Union was an aspiration, a sweetener to bring Democrats to the table and rebut the idea that he鈥檚 motivated by an anti-immigration animus per se,鈥� says Mr. Stein of FAIR. 鈥淏ut what he鈥檚 ultimately saying is, he鈥檚 a reasonable guy, as long as the immigration flow responds to the consent of the governed.鈥澛�

That鈥檚 a key message to Mr. Trump鈥檚 political base as the 2020 campaign ramps up: The president who ran on immigration as a marquee issue doesn鈥檛 want to run for reelection with people streaming across the border.

鈥楥erebral鈥� and data driven

Among Republicans on Capitol Hill, Mr. Miller has his fans.

鈥淗e鈥檚 very thoughtful; he鈥檚 data driven,鈥� says Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., who just reintroduced a bill that would reduce legal immigration by switching to a skills-based point system.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who like Mr. Miller has faced accusations of racism and worse, praises the Trump aide as 鈥渃erebral.鈥�

鈥淗e鈥檚 intellectually competitive, and I think that鈥檚 something that the president respects,鈥� says Mr. King.

There鈥檚 no doubt Mr. Miller has brain power. He went to Duke University, where, as in high school, he carved out a strongly conservative profile. After college, he went to Capitol Hill, winding up as communications director for then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. 鈥� the first senator to endorse Mr. Trump for president, and the eventual attorney general.

More important, though, was the ideology 鈥� a 鈥渕ovement for nation-state populism鈥� 鈥� during his time with Mr. Sessions. Soon, the barely 30-year-old Mr. Miller had joined the Trump campaign as a senior policy adviser and a regular warm-up act at Trump rallies.

But outside the embrace of Mr. Trump鈥檚 world, some people who have known Mr. Miller far longer are dismayed. In in Politico magazine, Mr. Miller鈥檚 uncle called him an 鈥渋mmigration hypocrite鈥� 鈥� reviewing their own family history, and the chain migration out of what is now Belarus that saved Mr. Miller鈥檚 Jewish forebears from pogroms.

Ms. Ram, the progressive Democrat who knew Mr. Miller in high school, can only marvel at where he has landed 鈥� although it was clear early on he was working toward a highly ambitious end.

鈥淲hen he was starting a white male alliance on campus, he was trying to change the political conversation in the country,鈥� Ms. Ram says. 鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 just trying to get girls to notice him.鈥�

She remembers his campaign speech for student government, in which he told his fellow students not to bother picking up their trash, because janitors are 鈥�.鈥�

Mr. Miller soon found a platform wider than the school, appearing on conservative talk radio.

Ms. Ram also calls him 鈥渁n early pioneer鈥� in the politics of conservative victimization by the left. If he got made fun of in the April Fool鈥檚 issue of the school paper, or he didn鈥檛 think a teacher was giving him enough of a platform to share his views, he would assert that the overwhelmingly liberal school was trying to silence him, she says.

If there鈥檚 one positive thing Ms. Ram can say about Mr. Miller, it鈥檚 this: He owns his views. He鈥檚 not hiding behind a computer screen.

鈥淗e鈥檚 always said very publicly, and to people鈥檚 faces, how he felt about things,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd that makes him powerful in his conviction.鈥�

Staff writer Francine Kiefer contributed to this report.