On Friday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller made an appearance on CNN, where he confronted anchor Pamela Brown for using the term “undocumented migrant” to describe an alien who allegedly threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump.
During the interview, Brown reported on a letter that was sent by the individual threatening the president, referring to that individual as an “undocumented immigrant.” Miller immediately interjected and asked for clarification.
“Are you saying this immigrant was here illegally?” Miller asked Brown.
The CNN anchor responded by saying yes, which then led to the deputy chief of staff critiquing her choice of words.
“You said UNDOCUMENTED and I wasn’t clear what that means. I’m assuming they have a fake ID. I’m assuming they have a fake social security number,” Miller continued. “When we use language that’s designed to obscure the truth, that’s not good faith! An illegal alien is an illegal alien. They’re NOT undocumented migrants.”
Liberals often employ the term “undocumented migrant” as a means, they say, to avoid dehumanizing those who have entered the country illegally. However, opponents make the case that this form of political correctness downplays the seriousness of legal violations.
Stephen Miller has played a critical role in shaping immigration policy in the U.S. He has been a stalwart advocate of stricter enforcement and for using terms he considers to be more legally appropriate and accurate, such as “illegal alien.”
Many folks on both sides of the aisle have agreed with this assessment.
This isn’t the first time Miller has taken a CNN anchor to task on the issue of immigration. In 2017, the now deputy chief of staff took on Jim Acosta, slamming him for his position on the topic.
“What you’re proposing – or what the president is proposing here – does not sound like it’s in keeping with American tradition when it comes to immigration,” Acosta said, kicking off the tense back-and-forth.
According to Fox News, Miller fired back by saying, “Well, first of all, right now, it’s a requirement that to be naturalized, you have to speak English. So the notion that speaking English wouldn’t be part of our immigration system would be very ahistorical.”
Acosta replied, “This whole notion … that they have to learn English before they get to the United States, are we just going to bring in people from Great Britain and Australia?”
Miller then lit a proverbial match beneath Acosta by retorting, “I am shocked at your statement that you think that only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English. It reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree.”
He wasn’t done there.
“This is an amazing moment, this is an amazing moment. That you think only people from Great Britain and Australia would speak English is so insulting to millions of hard-working immigrants who do speak English from all over the world,” Miller added.
Pressing his point, he then said, “Jim, have you honestly never met an immigrant from another country who speaks English from outside of Great Britain and Australia? Is that your personal experience?”
