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Stephen Miller drives Trump’s immigration crackdown into a new phase
https://apnews.com/author/gisela-salomon
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ANALYSIS

Stephen Miller drives Trump’s immigration crackdown into a new phase

White House records list Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, placing him near the centre of President Donald Trump’s second-term immigration apparatus. The White House’s 20 January 2025 executive order directed agencies to expand detention, expedited removals, state-local enforcement agreements and penalties against so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. The Department of State says Belgian citizens remain eligible for the Visa Waiver Program, but ESTA approval does not guarantee admission at the US border. Brookings researchers estimated in May 2026 that more than 145,000 US citizen children had probably experienced a parent being booked into immigration detention since Trump returned to office. For Belgium Pulse readers, the story is chiefly about US governance and migration policy; Belgium enters through travel, study, business mobility and the EU’s wider debate over how liberal democracies balance border control with rights protections.

Belgium Impulse Editorial·11 June 2026·3 min read·7 sources
Key signal

Belgian families, students, researchers, businesses and tourists with US plans should read this as a signal about a stricter American enforcement climate, not as a direct change to Belgian visa-free travel. The Department of State still lists Belgium in the Visa Waiver Program, but it also says border officers retain final authority to admit or deny entry. EU policymakers, Belgian diplomats and rights-focused voters will also recognise the wider question: whether democratic states can intensify migration enforcement without weakening due process, family protection and international confidence.

Stephen Miller (US political adviser, born 1985, now listed by the White House as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser) is a long-time architect of Trump immigration policy. Donald Trump (US president, returned to office on 20 January 2025) made mass deportation a central campaign promise. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE (Department of Homeland Security agency created in 2003), carries out interior immigration arrests, detention and removals. Kristi Noem (South Dakota Republican and Trump-era homeland security secretary in 2025 reporting) was cited in immigration-enforcement escalation accounts. The Visa Waiver Program (US system allowing short tourism or business travel without a visa) includes Belgium, according to the Department of State. ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization, run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection) is required before Belgian short-stay travellers board a US-bound carrier. Brookings Institution (Washington-based research organisation founded in 1916) produced the child-separation estimate used here.

Background

The White House’s 20 January 2025 executive order revoked several Biden-era immigration directives and ordered expanded detention, expedited removals, 287(g) state-local enforcement agreements and funding reviews of NGOs serving removable migrants. The policy echoes Trump’s first term, when the 2018 “zero tolerance” border prosecution policy produced widespread family separations before Trump signed an executive order on 20 June 2018 intended to halt routine separation of families at the border. The deeper precedent is statutory: section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, created in 1996, lets local officers perform certain federal immigration functions under ICE supervision.

The wider picture

The broader issue is how a major democratic ally uses state power over borders, identity and internal enforcement. For the EU, the US approach sits beside European debates over asylum externalisation, return policy and security screening. Washington’s choices can influence global norms because the United States remains a benchmark for rights litigation, migration control and executive authority.

Why now

The lead is timely because a new documentary focus on Miller lands after more than a year of second-term Trump immigration actions, including the 20 January 2025 executive order, expanded enforcement reporting and May 2026 research estimating the impact on US citizen children.

OIS Intelligence

What to watch

Watch for US court decisions on detention and arrest practices, new DHS or ICE detention data, changes to ESTA or visa guidance, and any congressional funding fights over immigration enforcement. Belgian readers with US travel should monitor official Department of State and CBP guidance before departure.

Opposing perspectives

  1. Trump White House / Department of Homeland Security

    The administration’s strongest case is that immigration law must be enforced at scale after years of perceived non-enforcement. The White House executive order frames expanded detention, removals, local cooperation and funding reviews as necessary to protect public safety, national security and the integrity of federal law.

  2. Immigrant-rights and civil-liberties organisations

    Rights groups argue the crackdown turns numerical pressure into due-process risk. Their strongest version is that courthouse arrests, expanded 287(g) agreements and broad detention powers deter people from attending hearings, reporting crimes or keeping families stable, while increasing the chance of racial profiling and unlawful detention.

  3. Child and family policy researchers

    Brookings researchers frame the issue less as border politics than as foreseeable harm to US citizen children. Their analysis argues that immigration enforcement creates a child-welfare problem when the state detains parents but does not systematically track, protect or support the children left behind.

Sources & evidence