Stephen Miller Starts as Chief of Staff Monday, and the Industries That Hire Immigrant Labor Are Already Pushing Back
Miller's promotion takes effect today. Farm and business-immigration groups that wrote the White House last month about worker losses and grocery prices are reacting with alarm, the Washington Post reports - a coalition fight with direct stakes for Texas agriculture and construction.
Stephen Miller's first day as White House chief of staff is Monday, and the reaction from the industries that run on immigrant labor arrived before he did. The Washington Post reports that leaders of agriculture and construction groups were stunned by President Trump's decision to promote the architect of his deportation policy, days after voters signaled anger about that policy in the midterm elections.
The sharpest quote came from farm country. Chris Herr, president of PennAg Industries Association, which represents farmers and pork and poultry producers, told the Post that when a text first told him Miller had a new role, his thought was, 'Thank goodness he was let go' - before he learned Miller had been promoted, not removed. The Post reports that many of Herr's members helped propel Trump to victory in 2024 but have soured as enforcement costs them workers; last month, more than 40 farmers and agricultural industry groups wrote to Trump and congressional leaders warning that the crackdown was hitting the nation's food supply and risking higher grocery prices. Rebecca Shi, chief executive of the American Business Immigration Coalition, put the critics' case in one sentence: 'Time will tell if Stephen Miller continues to wreck the economy, destroy families, tarnish the Republican political coalition and obliterate Trump's legacy.'
For Texas, the fight is not abstract: agriculture and construction are two of the state's largest employers of immigrant labor, and both industries' national groups are now on record against the promotion on the day it takes effect. Miller replaces Susie Wiles, in an appointment this desk covered Friday. What changes Monday is not the policy's author - it is his proximity to every decision the policy touches.
