White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on Monday criticized a CNN host for what he called a “dumb question” regarding Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s claim that federal immigration enforcement agents are targeting “brown people.”
The exchange came during a discussion about recent immigration operations in Illinois, where Pritzker alleged that federal authorities were engaging in discriminatory enforcement practices. Miller dismissed the accusation as baseless and accused CNN of amplifying political talking points rather than addressing the administration’s efforts to uphold immigration law.
“[I]s it the case that, as Pritzker frames it, you are profiling brown people, that this immigration crackdown is designed to go after people of color?” host Boris Sanchez posited. That led Miller to laugh in his face.
“Oh, what a dumb question,” he said. “The illegal aliens who are here are taking jobs away from blacks. They’re taking jobs away from whites. They’re taking jobs away from Latinos. They’re taking their health benefits away. They’re taking their school slots away. And of course, in many cases, they’re committing heinous crimes. We cannot have a system of law in this country that privileges illegal aliens over American citizens. And that’s what they’re doing. You know it, and I know it.”
“So that’s not exactly a no, Stephen,” Sanchez followed up. “Can you just unequivocally state that immigration policies—”
“I said it was a dumb question.” Miller said. “OK, no, and it was a dumb question.”