Emails Confirm Miller鈥檚 Twin Obsessions: Immigrants and Crime
Stephen Miller linked immigration to violence in emails to Breitbart News 鈥� writing of crimes committed by nonwhites that 鈥渆ach one [is] more disturbing than the next.鈥�
鈥淚t has never been easier in American history for illegal aliens to commit crimes of violence against Americans,鈥� Miller, now White House senior policy adviser, argued in a Jan. 5, 2016, email with the subject line 鈥渙ff-the-record observation.鈥�
In a Nov. 12 report, Hatewatch published emails that President Donald Trump鈥檚 de facto immigration czar sent to editors and reporters at Breitbart News while he was an aide to then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh leaked Miller鈥檚 emails to Hatewatch.
Miller was referring to 鈥渃onvicted criminal aliens鈥� he said the Obama administration was releasing from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Months earlier, Miller read an op-ed in 听that debunked a connection between immigration and crime, the emails show, but he chose to ignore it.
Jason L. Riley, a senior fellow at the conservative , noted in the op-ed that 鈥渘umerous studies going back more than a century have shown that immigrants 鈥� regardless of nationality or legal status 鈥� are less likely than the native population to commit violent crimes or to be incarcerated.鈥�
In a July 15, 2015, email to Breitbart, Miller dismissed Riley鈥檚 writing as being 鈥渕ore lies about new [A]merica,鈥� borrowing language found in white nationalist writing听about evolving demographics. Hatewatch reached out to Riley for a comment about Miller鈥檚 email, but the think tank analyst did not respond.
听also back up Riley鈥檚 conclusions. The advocacy group American Immigration Council asserts . The Marshall Project, a nonprofit group focusing on criminal justice issues, also found 鈥溾�� between undocumented immigration and crime. To find arguments of a connection between immigration and crime, one typically must turn to white nationalist websites or hate groups.
The two Miller emails cited earlier are emblematic of his views toward immigrants of color, apparent in the more than 900 emails McHugh shared with Hatewatch. Throughout Miller鈥檚 emails, he repeatedly portrays those immigrants as threatening or violent.
Breitbart News has dismissed the emails McHugh sent to Hatewatch. Breitbart spokeswoman Elizabeth Moore pointed out that the person who leaked the emails was 鈥渇ired years ago for a multitude of reasons.鈥� McHugh has said she was 听and has since renounced the far right. She admits she should not have taken part in what two journalism experts contacted by Hatewatch called a propaganda campaign by Miller.
鈥淚t is no surprise to us that the 澳彩开奖 [澳彩开奖] opposes news coverage of illegal-immigrant crime and believes such coverage is disproportionate, especially when compared to the rest of the media, which often refuse to cover such crimes,鈥� Moore wrote to Hatewatch.
Here鈥檚 how Miller reacted to a story about a settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Department of Homeland Security allowing immigrants with mental illness to reopen their cases in an email to McHugh and Julia Hahn, then another Breitbart editor:
Miller: Oct. 3, 2015, 1:03 a.m. ET: 鈥淚llegals with mental diseases, psychopathy, coming back to USA: [闭鈥�
McHugh, Oct. 3, 2015, 1:15 a.m. ET: 鈥淕o to sleep! :) We're broadening coverage of the immigrant crime waves going forward. Tons of things to report.鈥�
Miller often equated Muslim refugees explicitly with acts of terrorism in his emails to Breitbart. He viewed such attacks as justification to prevent refugees from entering the country, and during the Trump era, the United States has 听it admits.
Miller wrote at length on this subject in a Sept. 5, 2015, email to McHugh, then-Breitbart chief Steve Bannon and two other editors. Miller made the comments on a thread after sending a list he compiled of news stories about terror plots staged by Muslim extremists, and his language appears to borrow heavily from the type of rhetoric use.
Miller, Sept. 5, 2015, 9:52 p.m. ET: 鈥淚t is shocking to look at the list, as we鈥檝e compiled, of the number of foreign-born terrorists in the United States on voluntarily [sic] visas we handed out.
鈥淭he U.S. has been taking in Muslim refugees for decades, without any kind of pause or assimilation effort, creating huge pockets of radicalization. What plays out as chaos in Europe has been a longer-running and far more orderly process in the United States wherein poor Muslim migrants are legally brought here, placed into un-integrated communities, given preferential treatment for jobs, welfare and affirmative action, and plugged into our grievance culture.鈥�
After an 听on Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, California, that left , Miller expressed outrage that one of the perpetrators was .
McHugh, Dec. 3, 2015, 8:26 a.m. ET: 鈥淲atching Trump鈥檚 Q&A again and I鈥檓 in awe. He鈥檚 operating on several different levels. We need a piece on his rhetoric 鈥� I have to do it 鈥� If he somehow wins this country will become dramatically different and Americans will carry themselves as a new people.鈥�
Miller, Dec. 3, 2015, 10:18 a.m. ET: 鈥淎驳谤别别诲.
鈥淎lso, did you see [then-House Speaker Paul] Ryan already using 鈥榟omegrown鈥� meme? []"
McHugh, Dec. 3, 2015, 12:17 p.m. ET: 鈥淏ad timing on the beard, Ryan. It鈥檚 鈥榟omegrown鈥� in the sense that [Syed] Farook was an anchor baby.鈥�
Miller, Dec. 3, 2015, 12:18 p.m. ET: 鈥淭he word homegrown is a word designed to confuse the thinking mind.鈥�
McHugh, Dec. 3, 2015, 12:20 p.m. ET: 鈥淟iberalism is meant to short-circuit thinking to ensure it keeps ruling鈥� 鈥楬omegrown鈥� = 鈥榥othing we can do, submit to your future.鈥欌��
Miller, Dec. 3, 2015, 12:22 p.m. ET: 鈥淚t also connotes it comes out of something innate to the host country, rather than the visitor.鈥�
Miller returned to the subject hours later, attempting to tie the attack to one of his favorite targets in the emails 鈥� U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Miller, Dec. 3, 2015, 4:55 p.m. ET: 鈥�Rubio doubles-down just now on [Neil] Cavuto on admitting young Syrian refugees on FOX news, because he says the young ones can be vetted.
鈥淒oes he not realize the San Bernardino killer was born here to Pakistani immigrants? You can't screen for that. 听came here from Kuwait when he was 6! If you bring in more people who support Sharia you get more terrorism.鈥�
Miller often wrote about crimes committed by Latin American immigrants as part of an ongoing pattern of violence. For example, McHugh sent him , 鈥淣ew Jersey Police Arrest Illegal Alien for Repeatedly Sexually Abusing Child.鈥�
McHugh, Dec. 17, 2015, 6:11 p.m. ET: 鈥淭here are SO many of these stories out there.鈥�
Miller, Dec. 17, 2015, 7:12 p.m. ET : 鈥淸E]ach one more disturbing than the next.鈥�
Miller referred to a July 7, 2015, 听debunking a connection between immigration and crime by referring to it as 鈥渢he indoctrination campaign鈥� in the email鈥檚 subject line.
鈥淒on鈥檛 believe your lying eyes and those liars in law enforcement,鈥� Miller quipped in an email to McHugh on the day the article appeared.
After white nationalist 听murdered nine black congregants on June 17, 2015, Miller never mentioned his name to McHugh, the emails show. But Miller objected to online retailers making efforts to discontinue Confederate symbols in the aftermath of Roof鈥檚 terror attack, Hatewatch reported Nov. 12.
Miller鈥檚 treatment of the Roof case fits a pattern in the emails to McHugh: He never highlights a violent crime committed by a white person. Sporadically, however, he uses the subject as a potential springboard for Breitbart to write about crimes by nonwhites. He shared a from the website EAGnews.org with the headline, 鈥淪chool principal: 鈥極nly terrorists we need to fear are domestic white Christian men.鈥欌��
鈥淸P]ossible entre [sic] to story about race/crime stats,鈥� Miller wrote, referring to crime data purporting to show a larger percentage of violent crimes committed by nonwhite people.
听Hatewatch鈥檚 reporting on Miller鈥檚 emails to Breitbart by calling the 澳彩开奖 鈥渁n utterly-discredited, long-debunked far-left smear organization.鈥� But it hasn鈥檛 denied the authenticity of the emails McHugh sent to Hatewatch.
The White House has also intimated to reporters that Hatewatch鈥檚 reporting was motivated by antisemitism (Miller is Jewish) despite the 澳彩开奖鈥檚 record of fighting hate and bigotry and its recent work exposing the identities of antisemites.
Antisemitic white nationalists such as Andrew Anglin of the Daily Stormer have largely given Miller鈥檚 religion a pass in recent years because of the draconian immigration policies he has promoted as a Trump adviser. On June 26, 2018, 听about whether Miller could be considered a white nationalist despite being Jewish:
The thing here is: Stephen Miller鈥� actually is pushing for white nationalist policies. That doesn鈥檛 mean he is a 鈥榳hite nationalist.鈥� But all of the policies he is advocating are the ones that white nationalists would be advocating in his position. Again: everything that he does is intended to stop brown people coming in while getting as many as possible out.
It is simply a fact that there is nothing I have seen this Jew do that I disagree with. I don鈥檛 know what that means, or really feel a strong need to make a determination about what that means. I鈥檓 happy with him continuing doing what he is doing, as he appears to be doing it very well.
have called for Miller鈥檚 resignation听in the aftermath of Hatewatch鈥檚 reports on his emails. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told HuffPost on Tuesday that he wants Miller to address the issue.
鈥淚鈥檇 love to hear him more fully describe his involvement with that movement,鈥� 听the website. 鈥淚 know the president gets to choose who鈥檚 around him, but I don鈥檛 think that reflects as well as it might.鈥�
Bakari Sellers, a South Carolina political commentator who once served in his state鈥檚 House of Representatives, told Hatewatch that white nationalists 鈥渒now the violence, the death that comes from their ideology.鈥�
He said the black community of South Carolina sees Miller鈥檚 framing of the Roof murders in the context of Trump鈥檚 presidency as a whole.
鈥淲e believe Trump to be racist,鈥� Sellers said. 鈥淥nly a racist person would have someone like Miller around him.鈥�
Photo illustration by 澳彩开奖
