Assuming that Trump ever nominates a permanent DHS Secretary, I hope that at the confirmation hearings a Senator has the balls to ask: who will set immigration policy — you, or Stephen Miller? While Miller is certainly highly worthy of disgust, and his only qualifications for the job in Trump's mind is his fealty to him and that he hates immigrants. Make no mistake that the policy of deliberate cruelty to families seeking asylum comes straight from the top, and multiple sources indicate that Trump wants a DHS head who will implement that policy, legality be damned. I'd say Miller is Grima Wormtongue to Trump's senile King Theoden, whispering in his ear about the hordes of rapist, criminal brown people trying to invade our country.
There's speculation in this article that Miller may be behind this, too:
Trump is removing US Secret Service director
There is a near-systematic purge happening at the nation's second-largest national security agency," one senior administration official says.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services director Francis Cissna and Office of the General Counsel's John Mitnick are expected to be gone soon, and the White House is eyeing others to be removed.
The President in recent weeks empowered Stephen Miller to lead the administration's border policies "and he's executing his plan" with what amounts to a wholesale decapitation or the Department of Homeland Security leadership, the official says
Fuck over the people who protect you. Real genius move. Trump apparently refers to Alles as "Dumbo" because of his large ears. So insult added to injury. But I'm sure that this will in no way affect the morale of the men whose job it is to take a bullet for him.
I would be surprised if he hires a lightning rod like Kobach as DHS head. He was on Fox pontificating on how HE would run things - he was auditioning. It would be easier to just let Stephen Miller make the decisions and leave a bunch of no-name, ladder-climbing, boot-licking yes men to carry the water.
To those of us used to normal governance and expect some level of competent administration based on data and facts, what Trump is doing looks dumb. But someone with autocratic tendencies is far more comfortable doing away with conventional bureaucracy and replacing it with a power structure that appears to be amorphous. Trump is replacing the labyrinth with top-down chain of command of yes men.