US President Donald Trump's controversial immigration policy advisor Stephen Miller married Katie Waldman, the current press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence. The president was also in attendance at the wedding, which took place at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Both Stephen Miller and Katie Waldman are of Jewish ancestry, having ancestors who immigrated to the United States. It was also reported in The New York Times that Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, a senior advisor to US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, officiated at the wedding for the couple. Miller has been considered a highly controversial figure in the Trump administration for pushing hard-line positions on immigration policy and for allegedly harboring racist views. Some of the controversial policies have included construction of more sections to the wall on the Mexico-US border, hiring 10,000 additional US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, separating migrant children from their parents, tightening asylum policies and cutting funds to sanctuary cities.In August 2017, Miller engaged in a heated debate on the meaning of Emma Lazarus's poem on the Statue of Liberty about immigration to America, suggesting that "you have to speak English," in order to immigrate.In October 2018, a report by the Financial Times indicated that Miller attempted to restrict access to Chinese students seeking to study in the United States, aimed at preventing "espionage."More recently, in emails leaked by the Southern Poverty Law Center in November 2019, it was revealed that Miller sent to a reporter at Breitbart links to a white nationalist news website called VDare, and recommended a book named The Camp of the Saints – written by the prominent French racist Jean Raspail – which later served as an ideological basis for white nationalism. Miller has also been disavowed by some members of the American Jewish community, including his uncle, and by Jewish Democratic House members, for his policies and alleged promotion of white nationalism. Waldman has served as a spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security. She has also defended Trump's approach to immigration policy, prior to working in the vice president's office.
