The architect of Trump's immigration policy could be profiting off ICE's cruelty

This is an adapted excerpt from the June 24 episode of “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”

Last week, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the administration’s “No. 1 concern” while carrying out its aggressive immigration raids was going after “violent criminals.” Compare that statement to this new headline from The Guardian: “Trump drives surge in ICE detentions of those with no criminal record despite stated priorities.”

“In mid-June, ICE data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention who had been arrested by ICE despite having no track record of being charged with or convicted of a crime,” the Guardian reported. “That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in immigration detention immediately before the start of Trump’s second term.”

The driving force behind that staggering increase is likely none other than White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, one of the architects behind Donald Trump’s family separation policy in his first term and who, in Trump 2.0, seems to be eerily obsessed with undocumented immigrants.

Last month, Miller reportedly gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers marching orders to start conducting mass arrests, according to The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to people familiar with the meeting. During that meeting, Miller allegedly told agents to target places like Home Depot, where migrant day laborers typically gather. Soon, ICE agents appeared to follow Miller’s advice and conducted a sweep at a Home Depot in Los Angeles.

He was also one of the people who, according to Axios, which spoke to two sources familiar with another meeting the deputy chief of staff had with ICE, demanded that the agency round up 3,000 people a day.

Miller is reportedly the architect of that and so much more of Trump’s hard-line immigration policy, and while his anti-immigration fervor may be scratching some racist ideological itch, we learned Tuesday that it may also be making him money.

A new report from the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, a nonpartisan nonprofit government watchdog group, found that, according to Miller’s recently released financial disclosures, he just so happens to own a significant stake — up to $250,000 — in the data analytics company Palantir, a company which stands to make millions of dollars off of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Back in April, the Trump administration granted Palantir a no-bid $30 million contract to develop a new program called Immigration Lifecycle Operating System, or ImmigrationOS, which would effectively allow ICE to target and surveil migrants in real time.

According to public records reported by The New York Times, since Trump took office, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal spending, and it stands to receive at least $795 million more. Right now, as POGO pointed out, Palantir is already the highest performing company in the S&P 500 this year, with its stock price rising by more than 80% in 2025 so far.

Miller’s investments in Palantir stock, according to the watchdog, “appear to have started after the first Trump administration ended.” POGO's report goes on to note, “In the years between Trump’s first term and his second, Miller meticulously planned for an unprecedented increase in immigration enforcement. Miller’s newest disclosure was filed in mid-March and signed off by a White House ethics official in early June.”

Miller’s Palantir stock is technically in a brokerage account for one of his young children but, as POGO pointed out, “that does not legally matter, according to the Office of Government Ethics, which says “an asset that is owned by a spouse or minor child is analyzed under 18 U.S.C. § 208 [the criminal conflict of interest law] as if the employee owns it.”

Don Fox, a former acting head and general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, told POGO that Miller “could easily become involved in policy matters that have a direct and predictable impact on Palantir” and thereby his own stock portfolio.

Palantir did not respond to POGO’s request for comment about Miller’s stock ownership, and a White House official told the watchdog that Miller “has confirmed to White House ethics officials that he has and will continue to recuse from participating in official matters that could affect those stocks.”

Now, I’m not quite sure how that works, but the bottom line here is: Miller may be profiting off of the government position he holds, while harming communities all across the country — and if that doesn’t perfectly sum up the entire Trump administration, I’m not sure what does.