White House senior advisor and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller has officially made it into the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Extremist Files" over his role in masterminding "some of the most draconian anti-immigrant policies" rolled out under the Trump administration.
The SPLC announced the creation of a "new Extremist File" on Miller, who is widely considered the architect of the Trump administration's travel ban and of its family separation policy, which saw thousands of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, on Thursday.
Branding Miller a "far-right extremist who has been influential in shaping the Trump administration's rhetoric and policies on immigration and race," the SLPC said the senior advisor is responsible for some of the most "draconian" policies to come out of the White House.
Miller's classification as an "extremist" comes after the SPLC revealed the contents of hundreds of messages he sent to a Breitbart editor, pushing white nationalist and anti-immigrant ideas.
leaked messages show he shared an article from far-right website WorldNetDaily with Phyllis Schlafly, who suggested the idea of shipping immigrants out of the U.S. on trains as a scare tactic and expressed fears that migrants might "replace existing demographics."
Among the leaked messages were notes promoting an article suggesting the idea of shipping immigrants out of the U.S. on trains as a scare tactic, recommending a book claiming that refugee resettlement is part of a plan to erase American sovereignty and pushing conspiracy theories, including claims of a United Nations-inspired effort to colonize the U.S.
After the leaked contents of Miller's messages came to light, more than 100 Democratic members of Congress called for his resignation, which the White House advisor has so far declined to offer.
"Stephen Miller is the architect behind some of the most draconian anti-immigrant policies that we've seen from the Trump administration," said Michael Edison Hayden, senior investigative reporter for the SPLC in a statement sent out by the organization.
"The emails that were leaked to us have essentially provided a roadmap for the dehumanizing and hateful policies that we've seen enacted under this administration," Hayden said. "Hate and bigotry have no place in our government and should certainly not be allowed to influence the policies of our nation."
In a statement sent to Newsweek, White House spokesperson Judd Deere dismissed the SPLC's stance on Miller, saying "no one cares what the SPLC does."
"They are a far-left smear organization that only wants to libel, slander, and defame anyone associated with this President," Deere said.
This is not the first time the White House has shrugged off the SPLC's reporting and criticisms on Miller, with spokesperson Stephanie Grisham previously branding the SPLC an "utterly discredited, long-debunked far-left smear organization" in a statement to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, fellow White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley has previously appeared to suggest that the focus on Miller might be related to his Jewish identity.
In a statement to The New York Times, Gidley said Miller "loves this country and hates bigotry in all forms–and it concerns me as to why so many on the left consistently attack Jewish members of this administration."
This article has been updated with a statement from the White House.
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Chantal Da Silva is Chief Correspondent at Newsweek, with a focus on immigration and human rights. She is a Canadian-British journalist whose work ... Read more
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