Jewish groups again call for Stephen Miller to quit

Among the 15 Jewish groups that signed are the Anti-Defamation League, National Council of Jewish Women, and the Reform and Reconstructionist movements.

Stephen Miller (photo credit: REUTERS)
Stephen Miller
(photo credit: REUTERS)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — For the third time in two months, an array of Jewish groups has joined in a call for the resignation of Stephen Miller, a top adviser to President Donald Trump.

The latest call, released Tuesday, is from 25 faith groups. Among the 15 Jewish groups that signed are the Anti-Defamation League, National Council of Jewish Women, and the Reform and Reconstructionist movements. Some of the groups have joined more than one of the statements calling for Miller’s removal. NCJW spearheaded this latest release.

Like the previous statements, this one cites emails published by the Southern Poverty Law Center linking Miller to white supremacist groups and views. It links his apparent sympathy for white nationalist views to Trump administration immigration policies. Miller is Trump’s lead adviser on immigration.

“We firmly oppose the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and anti-asylee policies enacted by this administration, including (but not limited to) the Muslim ban, efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) wherever possible, onerous barriers for family reunification, the increased criminalization of immigrants, family separation, decimating of the nation’s refugee resettlement program, and repeated attacks on asylum,” the statement says. “As organizations of many faiths, who feel love and respect where Miller advances disdain and hate, we call for his resignation immediately.”

In November, Jewish groups joined civil liberties groups in seeking Miller’s removal. In a separate letter the same month, three Jewish religious streams — the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements — made the same call. In December, 25 Jewish Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives called for his removal, and a number of Jewish Democrats in the Senate have joined similar calls.

The latest SPLC email dump, posted Tuesday, shows Miller making far-right arguments against the DACA program, which allows undocumented migrants who arrived in the United States as children to stay. President Barack Obama instituted the program.