Orders to federal agents to increase the arrests of people without criminal convictions likely sparked immigration arrests and protests.
www.forbes.com
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s orders to federal agents to arrest more people
without criminal convictions likely sparked the immigration arrests that ignited protests in Los Angeles. The arrests at Home Depot triggered the protests and the escalating response, including Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard. The controversy solidifies the view that the Trump administration’s goal is to achieve a high level of deportations rather than remove people with criminal convictions. The policy increases the
legal peril for businesses and immigrant workers.
Stephen Miller Berates ICE Officials In Immigration Meeting
On May 20, 2025, Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, called ICE’s top 50 field heads into Washington, D.C.
“Miller came in there and eviscerated everyone. ‘You guys aren’t doing a good job. You’re horrible leaders.’ He just ripped into everybody. He had nothing positive to say about anybody, shot morale down,” said the first official, according to reporting by Anna Giaritelli for the
Washington Examiner.
“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘
Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recited. (Emphasis added.)
In response to pushback from one ICE official, “Miller said, ‘What do you mean you’re going after criminals?’ Miller got into a little bit of a pissing contest. ‘That’s what Tom Homan says every time he’s on TV: ‘We’re going after criminals,’” the ICE official told Miller, according to the first official, reported the
Washington Examiner.
In January 2025, a week after Donald Trump took office, administration officials directed ICE officials “to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500,” reported the
Washington Post. That came after the president expressed disappointment with “the results of his mass deportation campaign.”