Picture of Stephen Miller briefly illustrates Wikipedia page on Kapos
Trump aide has been under fire for his leading role in crafting administration’s immigration policies; Ilhan Omar calls him a ‘white nationalist’
WASHINGTON — The Wikipedia page for Kapos, Jewish prisoners who collaborated with the Nazis in the camps during the Holocaust, was briefly illustrated with a picture of Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, widely considered the architect of the administration’s controversial immigration policies.
The main picture on the page was replaced on Monday with a picture of Miller, but still bore the original caption: “A kapo leader at Salaspils concentration camp, Latvia, wearing a Judenstern and a Lagerpolizist (camp policeman) armband.”
By Tuesday morning, the original picture had been restored.
Miller has come into focus again following a recent White House push for a harder line on immigration, including a shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security.
Officials said it was being orchestrated by Miller, the impetus behind some of the administration’s most controversial policies.
That’s according to three officials who spoke Monday to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They said Trump is also considering separating migrant families at the border again, resuming a practice that drew much outrage last year.
Miller was reportedly behind that move too.
His role drew strong criticism on Monday from Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar, who called him a white nationalist.
“Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage,” she tweeted.
Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage. https://t.co/7NyMDgojd7
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 8, 2019
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen submitted her resignation Sunday.
The officials said the head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, L. Francis Cissna, and Homeland Security General Counsel John M. Mitnick are expected to be pushed out of their positions.
Miller has faced widespread criticism in the past, particularly for the policy of separating children from the parents of illegal migrants.
The policy, which was instituted in May, said anyone who crossed the border illegally would be detained and prosecuted. That meant children, who cannot be prosecuted and detained like adults, were forcibly separated from their parents for an undetermined period.
More than 2,300 children were stripped from their parents and adult relatives after illegally crossing the border since May 5 and placed in tent camps and other facilities, with no way to contact their relatives.
In June, Miller was likened to a Nazi by a White House adviser, according to Vanity Fair.
“Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border,” the outside adviser told the magazine. “He’s a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. There’s always been a way he’s gone about this. He’s Waffen-SS.”
Miller has also faced widespread condemnation from the US Jewish community, most notably from his childhood rabbi.
“Honestly, Mr Miller, you’ve set back the Jewish contribution to making the world spiritually whole through your arbitrary division of these desperate people,” Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels said in his address for the Jewish new year. “The actions that you now encourage President Trump to take make it obvious to me that you didn’t get my, or our, Jewish message.”
Comess-Daniels made his comments at the Beth Shir Shalom congregation, which Miller attended with his family in 1999-2003.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.