A new tell-all book about the West Wing says one of President Trump’s top policy advisers spoke harshly about refugees coming to the U.S.
In “Team of Vipers,” due out Tuesday, former White House communications aide Cliff Sims quotes Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, as saying, “I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched American soil.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters during a press briefing Monday that she had never heard Miller make such a statement.
“It’s certainly not the policy of the administration,” Sanders said.
In the book, obtained in advance by the Washington Examiner, Sims describes Miller as being one of the members of the administration who would downplay the successes of immigrants who made “remarkable” contributions to the United States. He said that faction would go “out of their way to vilify all immigrants with stories of the bad apples,” such as putting out a news release when a refugee or immigrant committed a crime in the U.S.
Sims, a Trump campaign veteran, left his position at the White House in May 2018.
The Trump administration has made immigration a cornerstone of the president’s agenda. Last week, Trump signed legislation ending a 35-day partial government shutdown that stemmed from a fight over funding for the president’s promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump and Congress now have until Feb. 15 to come to a border agreement before the possible onset of another shutdown.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in September the administration would cap the number of refugees that can be resettled in the U.S. in 2019 at 30,000, a reduction from the 45,000-refugee limit the president set in 2018.
