Politics
WATCH: Stephen Miller Takes The Gloves Off, Schools Entire Press Gaggle On Illegal Immigration
An irritable Stephen Miller on Monday schooled a gaggle of White House reporters on the ins and outs of illegal immigration in a made-for-TV moment that left MAGA fans overjoyed.
The Trump immigration advisor gave a barnburner of a justification vis-à-vis journalists’ accusations that the administration was flouting a U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering it to “facilitate” the return of an illegal immigrant apprehended in Maryland and deported to his home country of El Salvador. Miller’s remarks came before an Oval Office appearance by the country’s president Nayib Bukele, who said he does not plan to release the alleged MS-13 gang member from his mega-prison.
“Do you know the difference between a deportation order and a holding order?” Miller asked reporters in a teacherly tone outside the White House on Monday.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, one mutters back, “Well, we’re not in the government.”
“So you couldn’t even spend 72 hours over the weekend learning the distinction even though you’ve been writing and talking about it this whole time?” the immigration expert fired back.
Basic facts about the case, including that the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was living in the U.S. illegally and that the El Salvadorian government also believed him to be a member of MS-13, were patiently confirmed in a back-and-forth between Miller and obstinate reporters that left him dumbfounded by their lack of knowledge about a subject they write about daily.
“What I’m getting from this conversation, which is educational for me, is that not one person in the media knows the difference between a deportation order and a holding order. Is that a fair statement? You’re learning about all of this for the first time right now?” he asked. “I guess so.”
Under U.S. law, a deportation order comes from a federal judge and states that an individual must be deported and has no right to remain here, according to Miller, who said that Garcia was the subject of one.
“He doesn’t get to live here. He has no future here,” the Trump advisor said. “So when you keep saying ‘return’ – because you’ve been spun up by the open borders advocates – you all seem to be operating under the illusion that he would be able to come to the United States and just continue to live here illegally.”
In contrast, a holding order prevents the immediate deportation of an illegal immigrant if a judge finds they are at substantial personal security risk if sent back to their home country, according to the American Immigration Council.
WATCH:
For more than 10 minutes, Miller carries on answering questions from the scrum until they are seemingly outlasted by his exhaustive responses.
Elsewhere, he laughs and patiently explains why MS-13 gang members are not deserving of “due process” when being deported.
“We seem to be confused about this,” he said politely to the press members. “The illegal aliens from El Salvador, again, get deported to El Salvador. Do you all appreciate that, like, tens of thousands of El Salvadorians have been deported to El Salvador? You seem to be under the impression that El Salvadorians living in our country illegally just get to stay here. They don’t. They get arrested and deported.”
