Stephen Miller: Racism as a Governing Tool

by

Stephen Miller: Racism as a Governing Tool

Ideology as the Profit Lever

“If you had it your way, everyone would look exactly like you,” Donald Trump said to Stephen Miller.

“That’s correct,” Miller replied.

Miller argues that the 1965 Immigration Act damaged the United States by ending immigration quotas that favored white Europeans. He maintains that visas should not lead to citizenship and that foreign labor was never intended to carry full political standing. In this framework, rights are conditional—extended only to those who meet racial, economic, or political thresholds.

That position makes him useful.

Miller functions as a tool within the wealth-extraction system in a way this series has not previously examined: as an ideological broker. His role is not administrative or financial; it is persuasive. Someone must normalize the removal of rights—present it as reasonable, necessary, or protective. Once that case is accepted, economic consequences follow. This affects our money, our safety, and our political power.

Wealth extraction operates through two linked mechanisms. Extraction politics uses governmental authority—legislation, regulation, public spending, and enforcement—to move wealth upward, from the many to the few, through legal means. Extractive capitalism then strips value from national assets and shared systems for concentrated private benefit. Rights restriction is one of the levers that makes the transfer possible.

Racism Supports Extraction

Miller’s immigration enforcement policies attempt to engineer a workforce that remains economically useful while reducing its political power. The ICE enforcement practices affect far more than illegal immigrants. ICE has increasingly relied on acts of violence and overt intimidation, targeting U.S. citizens and lawful residents as well as undocumented immigrants, as a means to instill fear and suppress dissent. This aspect of the system counts on Americans to continue to produce value for extraction, while creating an environment increasingly poor, fearful and powerless.

Undocumented workers are not the only targets. New policies revoke visa pathways, halt green card processing, and prevent U.S. citizens from bringing family members into the country. Since January 2025, more than 100,000 visas have been revoked, every green card issued to people from 39 designated countries has been ordered for review, and large portions of the immigration system have been effectively paused.

About 15,000 active-duty military and National Guard troops have been deployed to support ICE operations. Guantanamo Bay has been repurposed to detain up to 30,000 immigrants.

The public pays for this system. Deportations are expected to cost $50 billion dollars per year, compared to Obama-era peak costs of $2.6 billion annually. Cost per deportation has risen to $17,000-$100,000, driven not by increased removals but by militarization, expanded detention, and contractor involvement. The average cost is calculated to $70,236 per deportee. Border-related troop deployments cost about $1.2 billion per year. This contrast shows a shift from high-volume, lower-cost enforcement (Obama) to lower removal numbers but vastly higher per-person costs (Trump), driven by systemic expansion, profit incentives, and political spectacle.

There is no economic return to the public; in fact, these policies destroy economic value, increase costs, and divert public funds from productive uses.

Private contractors capture most of the public spending generated by enforcement expansion. Surveillance firms, detention operators, transportation companies, and processing contractors are paid whether or not removals increase. Palantir, ICE’s primary data contractor, received a no-bid contract as enforcement scaled up. As a result of this no-bid gift, its U.S. government revenue increased by 45 percent over the previous year, about $300 million year over year. Public funds are committed in advance, competition is limited or eliminated, and private firms profit from permanent enforcement infrastructure rather than measurable results.

Miller’s role in this system goes beyond policy design. His net worth is now estimated between $2 million and $5 million, up from a half million in 2020, reflecting his strategic shift from government salary to institutional power and private influence. He held stock in Palantir and also in defense contractors. These financial interests are documented, though they are not the central issue. The central issue is that his ideology supplies the political justification for policies that move wealth upward while the public pays the cost.

Migration Rhetoric Justifies Resource Wars

Miller’s “immigration as invasion” rhetoric provides cover for resource wars that enrich contractors, not the public.

By labeling migration an invasion, Miller adds “migration control” to the standard list of justifications for U.S. military intervention—alongside terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. This reframing widens the target list to include any resource-rich country that also produces migrants.

As an ideological broker, Miller supplies a narrative frame that expands the menu of “reasonable” state actions.

The pattern is familiar. U.S. regime-change operations have overwhelmingly focused on oil-producing nations. Venezuela is the current example. Operation Absolute Resolve, launched January 3, 2026, was officially justified as a narco-terrorism operation. Migration was used as supporting rationale, with Venezuela cited as the source of roughly 30 percent of recent U.S. border encounters from Latin America.

The operation cost taxpayers about $500 million and unlocked more than $10 billion in private contracts for Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel, and Blackwater. Chevron and ExxonMobil received preferential drilling access. Chevron’s stock rose 15 percent. Exxon secured $1.4 billion in arbitration awards.

The public pays the costs; private firms collect the gains. This is the same structure seen in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.

Cuba and Nicaragua—both sources of migration with extractable resources—are now flagged as potential targets. Haiti, despite significant migration, received only limited intervention due to its lack of extractable assets. Countries are targeted when private extraction is profitable, not when migration pressures are highest.

Miller sold his MP Materials stock in August 2025, one month after a Trump administration deal caused the company’s share price to surge from $30 to $76.58. The sale occurred amid broader divestments from firms like Intel and Westinghouse–companies also benefiting from administration equity deals. His defense contractor and oil company holdings remain partially undisclosed but follow the pattern of profiting from policies he designed.

“We the People”, Redefined

In an X post, Miller wrote: “The West is the first and only civilization to import a foreign labor class that is granted full political rights, including welfare and the right to vote. All visas are a bridge to citizenship.”

His problem is that workers were allowed to become equals. Democratic inclusion is treated as a deviation that must be corrected.

The framework makes racism sound like an improvement rather than exploitation. It turns immigration into invasion and border security into military action.

In this rewrite, immigration control—and the private police force built around it—are presented as normal, even all-American. Anyone who challenges them is labeled an insurrectionist, a terrorist, part of an insurgency. Under this logic, people exercising constitutional rights are no longer treated as citizens, but as threats to be managed.

Once equality is optional, exclusion can be made permanent.

The Constitution Is an Obstacle to Extraction

A functioning Constitution empowers people to resist wealth extraction. Over time, constitutional law has been amended and interpreted to move the country closer to the Declaration’s equality claim. That development creates conditions that make large-scale, durable extraction difficult.

First, the Constitution establishes broad political membership. Citizenship, equal protection, and due process produce voters, organizers, plaintiffs, and juries. They create people with standing—people who can challenge policy, block enforcement, and force accountability through courts and elections.

Second, the Constitution constrains state power. It limits detention, seizure, punishment, and surveillance. It requires justification, procedure, and review. These constraints raise the cost of coercion and make enforcement more visible, contestable, and reversible.

Third, the Constitution creates democratic feedback. People harmed by policy can organize, vote, and litigate. Courts can intervene. Policies can be changed or overturned over time.

Extraction systems rely on different conditions. They require labor without political power, populations governed by law but excluded from lawmaking, enforcement capacity without reciprocal rights, and stability without democratic correction. Constitutional equality interferes with each of these requirements.

This conflict explains why pressure repeatedly concentrates around citizenship, voting, protest, detention, surveillance, and enforcement authority. These are not separate controversies. They are points where constitutional equality limits extraction.

Attacks on equality, political membership, and participation often arise as responses to constitutional limits on exploitation. These assaults aim to extract America’s assets for the benefit of a privileged few.

An Ideological Broker is Useful Tool

Miller’s racism is genuine. His ideology is one tool that creates permission for policies that strip rights while maintaining economic exploitation. Those policies generate profit for specific industries. Racism, like other divisive tools, props up extractive systems that pervert capitalism’s potential for broad prosperity.

An ideological broker provides the intellectual framework that makes wealth transfer sound reasonable, even necessary. Miller performs this role for a certain group. His racism may drive his personal commitment; his financial holdings show he benefits from them. But his importance lies in extending wealth extraction with an even tighter marriage of extraction politics and extractive capitalism.

Summary explainer of this deep dive published on Substack:  Stephen Miller: Racism as a Governing Tool

References:

  1. Stephen Miller is fashion obsessed and agreed with Trump joke that he wants everyone to look like him, report says | The Independent – Published: Jan 7, 2026
  2. Stephen Miller is fashion obsessed and agreed with Trump joke that he wants everyone to look like him, report says – Yahoo – Published: Jan 7, 2026
  3. Stephen Miller wants to make the entire country look like him. | Pod Save America
  4. The wrath of Stephen Miller – MSN
  5. “Stephen,” Trump said, during a contentious debate about immigration, “if you had it your …
  6. Stephen Miller – Southern Poverty Law Center
  7. The Civil Rights law that Stephen Miller says ruined America | CNN Politics – Published: Dec 11, 2025
  8. We Rejected This Practice 60 Years Ago. We Must Do So Again Today. – The New York Times – Published: Dec 5, 2025
  9. White House adviser Stephen Miller said the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act was a …
  10. NO honest conversation has been had about this: Stephen Miller – YouTube
  11. Fact-checking the Stephen Miller-Jim Acosta exchange on immigration – Published: Aug 8, 2017
  12. Immigration policy in the second Trump administration: Restriction, removal, and the limits of MAGA nativism – The Geographical Journal – Wiley Online Library – Published: May 1, 2025
  13. Trump’s White-Nationalist Vanguard – The Atlantic – Published: Nov 19, 2019
  14. Untitled
  15. Stephen Miller’s Assault on America’s Immigrant Legacy: Part I – The UnPopulist
  16. Immigrant Visa Processing Updates for Nationalities at High Risk of Public Benefits Usage – Published: Jan 14, 2026
  17. Understanding the USCIS Pause on Asylum and Certain Immigration Applications
  18. Trump Administration Will Pause Immigrant Visa Processing for 75 Countries: Answers to Employers’ Biggest Questions | Fisher Phillips – Published: Jan 16, 2026
  19. U.S. to suspend immigrant visas from 75 countries over public assistance concerns – NPR – Published: Jan 14, 2026
  20. Trump Immigration Policy Changes – USAHello
  21. Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing from 75 countries – The Guardian – Published: Jan 14, 2026
  22. Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States – The White House – Published: Dec 16, 2025
  23. Green Card Applications Paused: Understanding the New 2025 Vetting Delays
  24. US Revokes Over 100,000 Visas in 2025 Amid Increased Scrutiny – YouTube
  25. DOS Pauses Immigrant Visa Issuance for Nationals of 75 Countries – NAFSA – Published: Jan 15, 2026
  26. Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity – Published: Jan 29, 2025
  27. The Journey of a Group of Cuban Deportees Stuck at Guantánamo – The New York Times
  28. How many migrants has Trump sent to Guantánamo so far? – NPR – Published: Jun 23, 2025
  29. Trump administration plans to transfer thousands of migrants to Guantánamo Bay – Jurist.org – Published: Jun 11, 2025
  30. The offshore detention gamble: A billion-dollar shift to Gitmo – Niskanen Center – Published: Feb 5, 2025
  31. These Companies—Palantir, AT&T, Deloitte—Have The Biggest ICE Contracts As DHS Funding Under Fire – Forbes
  32. Financial Times: Private Companies Reaped $22B in Contracts with ICE & CBP Last Year – The New York Times
  33. AI firms profit from contracts for U.S. immigration enforcement – DongA Science
  34. Palantir Stock Faces Government-Contract Risk Amid AI Growth | InsiderFinance – Published: Jan 20, 2026
  35. Palantir Q4 earnings preview: AI partnerships and defense growth in focus – MSN
  36. Mass Deportation: Devastating Costs to America, Its Budget and Economy – Published: Oct 1, 2024
  37. PolitiFact FL: Immigration after one year under Trump: Where do mass deportation efforts stand? | WLRN – Published: Jan 23, 2026
  38. What’s the potential financial cost of Trump’s immigration policies? – Scripps News – Published: Jan 23, 2025
  39. Unleashing Power in New Ways: Immigration in the First Year of Trump 2.0 – Published: Jan 13, 2026
  40. DHS Claims 622,000 Deportations, Here’s Why That Number Might Be Meaningless
  41. We continue to make history under President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem’s …
  42. Could Trump actually enforce ‘mass deportations’ of migrants? – Published: Oct 17, 2024
  43. Deportation in the second Trump administration – Wikipedia
  44. DHS Sets the Stage for Another Historic, Record-Breaking Year Under President Trump – Published: Jan 20, 2026
  45. Trump promises the largest deportation in US history. Experts say this would hurt the economy – Medill on the Hill – Published: Oct 10, 2024
  46. Stephen Miller’s Stock Sale Raises Questions, Ethics Experts Say – The New York Times – Published: Dec 9, 2025
  47. Stephen Miller, a top adviser to President Trump, sold shares worth $50,000 to $100,000 in …
  48. Stephen Miller Slammed Over Stock Sales Right After Big Trump Deal – Yahoo Finance – Published: Dec 10, 2025
  49. Stephen Miller faces ethics concerns over stock sale of Las Vegas mining company – Published: Dec 10, 2025
  50. Stephen Miller Net Worth 2025: Why Estimates Range from $1M to $2M – FastBull
  51. Stephen Miller Dumps Defense Contractor Stocks to Comply With Ethics Laws – NOTUS – Published: Dec 2, 2025
  52. Stephen Miller Owns Up to $250,000 in Palantir Stock, Report Finds | Truthout – Published: Jun 24, 2025
  53. Steve Miller Net Worth (2026) – Quiver Quantitative
  54. Trump Adviser Stephen Miller Holds Six-Figure Investment in Tech Firm Profiting from Deportations | Democracy Now! – Published: Jun 25, 2025
  55. Insider Selling and Political Scrutiny Cloud MP Materials’ Rally – AD HOC NEWS – Published: Dec 10, 2025
  56. Venezuela Operation: The Halliburton Case Study – How Flow Data Caught Institutions Selling Into Retail FOMO – Exponential Tech
  57. 2026 United States intervention in Venezuela – Wikipedia
  58. The U.S. naval blockade of Venezuela has cost $700 million already—and is rising by $9 million daily | Fortune – Published: Jan 8, 2026
  59. Oil Firms Say Venezuela Owes Them Billions Over Earlier Investments – Published: Jan 7, 2026
  60. Big Oil offers reality check to Trump’s Venezuela dream | Reuters – Published: Jan 12, 2026
  61. Operation Absolute Resolve: The Fall of Maduro and the $100 Billion Scramble for Venezuelan Oil – Markets – The Chronicle-Journal – Published: Jan 9, 2026
  62. Maduro overthrow could help these U.S. oil companies recover assets seized by Venezuela – Published: Jan 5, 2026
  63. Maduro Was Removed for Oil and the Money Trail Leads Straight to Trump and Corporate Beneficiaries.
  64. Shares of U.S. oil companies soared in premarket trade on Monday, as investors monitor the fallout from the White House’s military operation in Venezuela. – Facebook
  65. The New Energy Frontier: US-Venezuela Accord Reshapes Global Oil Markets – bigspringherald.com – Published: Jan 7, 2026
  66. The Trump Administration’s Legal Battle to Cast Immigration as an “Invasion” – ProPublica – Published: May 23, 2025
  67. “Analysts note there is no policy justification for the Trump administration’s reductions in …
  68. Documenting the President’s Verbal Animus against Immigrants to defend DACA grantees:
  69. ‘Hatemonger’ Paints Trump Advisor Stephen Miller As A ‘Case Study In Radicalization’ : NPR – Published: Aug 24, 2020
  70. Leading with Cruelty: Eight Impacts of Trump’s First Day Executive Orders – Published: Jan 22, 2025
  71. Tracking Trump and Latin America: Migration—Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela Applications Paused – Published: Dec 4, 2025
  72. Latest changes to humanitarian parole programs, including private sponsorship programs
  73. Trump Escalates Mass Delegalization Campaign, Revoking Lawful Status of Thousands of People in the U.S. Through Family Reunification Program – Justice Action Center
  74. Supreme Court allows Trump administration to end humanitarian status for some migrants – Published: May 30, 2025
  75. The Administration Stops Temporary Humanitarian Protection Pathway for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans – Published: Jan 22, 2025

Read More: Other Articles in the exploration of wealth extraction

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.