On November 6, 2026, President Trump announced a major shake-up in his White House. Susie Wiles is leaving her post as Chief of Staff, and longtime adviser Stephen Miller will take her place, effective Monday, November 9. The move comes days after Republicans suffered a devastating midterm election in which Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress.

Many of us hoped the midterm results would push the administration toward a more measured and lawful approach to immigration. Instead, the voters asked for moderation, and the White House answered by handing the keys to the most anti-immigration official in modern American history.

Who Is Stephen Miller?

Stephen N. Miller has served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor since 2025. He began his career as an aide to then-Senator Jeff Sessions and is widely described as the architect of Trump’s immigration policy. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists him among its extremists. He has praised the Immigration Act of 1924, which severely curtailed legal immigration for four decades.

Miller’s focus has never been limited to the southern border. Reducing legal immigration has long been his explicit and documented goal. His own words make that clear.

In Stephen Miller’s Own Words

On a leaked call about restricting legal immigration, Miller said the first priority was to “turn off the faucet” of new arrivals.

In a 2023 Fox News interview, he told host Jesse Watters, “We are being conquered.”

When Stephen Miller talks about a faucet, he is talking about our doctors, our engineers, our researchers, our students, and their children. These are people who pay taxes, build companies, create American jobs, and follow every rule the system asks of them. Labeling them as conquerors is not policy; it is fear dressed up as governance.

His Record on Legal Immigration

Our clients lived through Miller’s influence in the first Trump term. USCIS denied 24% of first-time H-1B petitions through the third quarter of fiscal year 2019, compared with 6% in 2015. The National Foundation for American Policy found that the administration adopted 52 policies restricting visas and green cards for highly skilled workers and none easing their access.

The second term has gone further. In September 2025, the administration imposed a $100,000 fee on employers sponsoring H-1B workers coming newly from outside the United States, and USCIS changed how the annual H-1B lottery is run. In January 2026, the State Department suspended immigrant visa issuance for 75 countries. As Chief of Staff, Miller will now control the flow of policy across the entire White House, not just the immigration portfolio.

What We Expect Over the Next Two Years

With Democrats controlling Congress, new restrictive immigration legislation is unlikely. That makes executive action the more likely tool: policy memos, USCIS guidance, stricter adjudication standards, higher fees, expanded vetting, and slower processing. None of these require a vote in Congress, and they can affect pending cases overnight.

Since Congress can no longer pass his agenda, expect it to arrive through memos, fees, and delays. The battlefield is now the USCIS adjudicator’s desk, and preparation is the best defense.

We expect more Requests for Evidence, closer scrutiny of H-1B wage levels and job duties, more FDNS site visits, tougher review of extensions and amendments, and longer delays for adjustment of status applicants, especially Indian nationals already waiting years in the green card backlog.

How to Protect Yourself

Maintain valid status at all times and file extensions well before deadlines. Keep complete copies of every petition, approval notice, I-94 record, and pay stub. Consult your attorney before any international travel. Respond to every RFE or NOID with thorough, well-documented evidence. Employers should review their H-1B public access files and compliance records now, before an FDNS officer knocks on the door.

For more information or to discuss Stephen Miller becoming White House Chief of Staff, please schedule a consultation here.

By: Rahul Reddy

Rahul Reddy is the founding partner of Reddy Neumann Brown PC. He founded our firm in 1997 and has over 28 years of experience practicing employment-based immigration. Rahul‘s vast knowledge of the complex immigration system makes him an invaluable resource and an expert in the field. His personal experience with the immigration system has made him empathetic to each of his clients’ cases and empowered him to help others achieve the American Dream.

Rahul‘s dedication to serving the immigrant community is evident, from his daily free conference calls to his weekly immigration Q&As on Facebook and YouTube Live. He is an active member of the immigrant community and one of the founders of ITServe Alliance. He has been a member of American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1995.