On February 8, 17 Jewish organizations sent a letter authored and organized by NCJW to White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly expressing our deep concern that Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller does not belong in national leadership due to his extreme viewpoints and advocacy of racist policies.

February 8, 2018

General John F. Kelly

White House Chief of Staff

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Dear General Kelly:

We, the undersigned Jewish agencies and organizations, are writing to share our deep concern that Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller does not belong in national leadership due to his extreme viewpoints and advocacy of racist policies.

As Jews, we are in solidarity with immigrants and refugees and believe that our nation must be a refuge and welcoming home for new Americans. Our people have been persecuted too many times in history for us to do otherwise. Not only our history but our holy texts teach us this: we are commanded by the Torah to welcome the stranger, for we were once strangers in the land of Egypt. We believe that we are all made b’tzelem Elohim, or “in the image of God.” Every person is deserving of a dignified and safe life, regardless of race, religion, nationality or any other identity.

Stephen Miller’s views on immigration are extreme and dangerous, and he has been an obstacle to passing widely-supported, bipartisan, popular, badly-needed immigration policy changes throughout his time in the administration. There will be no forward motion for immigrants and refugees while he advises the president, despite bipartisan support, to the detriment of all who live and work in this country. Immigrants are a vital part of American society and crucial to our country’s businesses. They are also human beings deserving of a decent life, out of the shadows.

Miller’s views are anathema to our Jewish and American values. They’re outside the mainstream, and they have no place in the White House. Throughout his professional career, Miller has made no secret of his belief that immigration should be restricted and that immigrants are bad for our country. With then-Senator Sessions, Miller helped orchestrate the defeat of comprehensive immigration reform in 2014. He worked closely with Breitbart Media, a platform for the alt-right and white supremacist movements, and was a reliable media presence to comment on anti-immigrant and nativist policies. During the 2016 election, Miller was a frequent warm-up act at Trump’s campaign rallies, revving up the crowd by invoking the image of immigrants as criminals, telling rally attendees “We’re going to build [the wall] out of love for every family who wants to raise their kids in safety and peace.”

During his time in the White House, Miller’s hard line stance against immigrants has informed and even directed the administration’s policies. Miller was the architect of the first and second Muslim and Refugee bans, which blocked people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. He orchestrated cuts to the refugee program, resulting in the lowest admissions number in modern history during the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Miller helped author the now infamous list of the administration’s immigration priorities, which include building a border wall, defunding sanctuary cities, eliminating the diversity visa program, and changing the nation’s entire immigration system from one based on family unification to one based on speaking English and being light-skinned. These priorities have been cited as a prerequisite to any immigration negotiations. They are grotesquely anti-immigrant, and against the values of most Americans and certainly the Jewish community which our organizations represent.