This is Stephen Miller, the Trump advisor who has been appointed to oversee the transition in Venezuela

Since Donald Trump’s first term, Stephen Miller has been one of the central architects of the administration’s most hard‑line domestic policies. He helped design strategies such as large‑scale deportations, efforts to end birthright citizenship, the national emergency declaration at the southern border, and crackdowns on unaccompanied minors. Now, as Trump’s national security adviser, Miller is shifting his attention overseas—specifically to Venezuela.

Following the military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Miller was appointed to help oversee U.S. control in the country. He joins Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President J.D. Vance in coordinating Washington’s role in the region.

“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, But we live in a world, in the real world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” Miller said.

“These are the iron laws of the world,” he added.

Who is Stephen Miller?

Miller, now 40, was born in Santa Monica, California. His family emigrated from what is now Belarus to New York in 1903 to escape antisemitic persecution. He attended a left‑leaning public school, and according to a profile in The New York Times, former classmates recall him being loudly booed during a student‑government speech in which he proposed investigating school custodians for improper trash collection.

Some classmates speculated—according to the same report—that a period of financial hardship pushed Miller’s family to move to a less affluent, more diverse neighborhood, shaping his early views on race and class.

At Duke University in North Carolina, Miller gained attention in conservative circles for defending three lacrosse players accused of sexual assault.

After graduating, he worked as a communications adviser for several Republicans, including Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, known for his nationalist positions. Miller helped elevate immigration as a defining political issue. He also worked with Michele Bachmann and Steve Bannon. In 2016, he joined Trump’s presidential campaign as a speechwriter. One of his signature lines: “We’re going to build that wall, and we’re going to build it out of love.”

From speechwriter to national security adviser

In 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center released excerpts of Miller’s emails to the conservative outlet Breitbart from 2015–2016, alleging that he promoted “white nationalist literature and racist propaganda,” including references to the French anti‑immigration novel The Camp of the Saints. More than 100 Democratic members of Congress called for his resignation, though Trump publicly backed him.

Today, Miller is considered one of the president’s most trusted advisers. During Trump’s second term, his influence has expanded significantly. In late May, Trump told Fox News that he aimed to reach 3,000 arrests per day of undocumented immigrants and instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to intensify its operations. “Just go out and arrest illegals,” he told agents, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Amid renewed scrutiny of his immigration agenda, an old video resurfaced showing Miller praising the use of torture. The footage, recorded in 2003, shows him on a school bus holding a microphone and arguing in favor of torture.

“Torture is the way to go, because people can live. Torture is a celebration of life and human dignity. We need to remember that as we enter these dark and dangerous times in the next century. I only hope many of my peers and people who will be leading this country appreciate the value and respect that torture shows towards other cultures,” he beamed, perhaps with a certain degree of irony or not, we’ll never know.

In addition to pushing to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents, Miller reinstated Title 42, the public‑health measure that allows the US to close its northern border with Mexico and expand military‑style deportation operations. He also refined policies that faced legal challenges during Trump’s first term and founded America First Legal, a legal organization that files lawsuits against groups it accuses of encouraging irregular migration.

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