Yesterday, Politico published a profile on Stephen Miller detailing his alarmingly personal vendetta against immigrants. We already knew that he’s the whatever-the-opposite-of-mastermind-is behind the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant policies, but apparently he also gets personally involved in deportation cases, and once spent downtime in Paris trying to make sure a deportation order would be carried out.
“It’s not an overstatement to say Stephen Miller wakes up every morning thinking about illegal immigration,” one unnamed source told Politico, “and goes to sleep thinking about it as well.”
Sandra Diaz, who used to work for the Trump Organization as an undocumented housekeeper, quickly put out a statement slamming Miller through her attorney, Anibal Romero. As she said:
When Stephen Miller goes to sleep at Trump properties, like Bedminster [Trump’s golf club in New Jersey], he is sleeping in a bed made by undocumented immigrants. When he wakes up, he is fed by them. The same is true for the Trump family. They rely on our labor even as the attack us and our communities. What a bunch of hypocrites. Cruel, demeaning hypocrites.
(Donate to Sandra and other undocumented housekeepers who worked for Trump here.)
Our good friend Gabe Ortiz at Daily Kos ran with the statement and called on Miller to answer for his role in the Trump Administration:
[Trump and Miller are] cruel, demeaning hypocrites that should be held accountable. Last week, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, invited Miller to testify in front of lawmakers. The chair acknowledged that getting White House advisers to testify before congressional committees isn’t all that common. But Miller’s acting like a department head, so he should be treated like one. Drag him in.
Presidential contender Julián Castro also weighed in after being asked about Sandra during a radio interview:
It’s just the height of hypocrisy, and at the same time a recognition that this is what happens in the United States.There are a lot of industries that have relied on this kind of immigrant labor — whether it’s the hospitality industry that he’s a part of with his golf courses or resorts or the construction industry or the restaurant industry. Obviously the agricultural industry, which is probably the best example. And, so we need to bring some order to this in a way that makes sense, that is reasonable, that is also compassionate.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy” 2020 POTUS candidate @JulianCastro slammed Pres. #Trump for hiring undocumented workers at his businesses on The @MSignorile Show today. pic.twitter.com/h3KQc2QEmH
— SiriusXM Progress (@SXMProgress) April 22, 2019
Trump’s resorts actually encompass a lot of the industries Castro references: restaurants, hotels/hospitality/housekeeping, construction, landscaping/gardening and even agriculture through his wineries (Bedminster is designated a farm). His hypocrisy makes the case for a solution.
We do need a different vision, indeed: one that doesn’t attack and demonize immigrants at every turn while profiting off their labor.
