Stephen Miller: Our Ben Gvir
There are many similarities between those who oppose ICE policies towards illegal immigrants and those who oppose Israeli policies toward Palestinians. For many, Palestinian behaviors that are criminal or put themselves in dangerous situations are ignored because as victims, their actions cannot be criticized. Similarly, illegal immigrants are considered victims so that their behaviors are ignored as are the often dangerous and irresponsible actions of their defenders. For many critics, no efforts by ICE agents will be tolerated even efforts to capture criminals or save exploited children.
While both Netanyahu and Trump are often in no-win situations, they make matters worse by their embrace of the most noxious members of their administrations: Stephen Miller and Itamar Ben Gvir. These zealots take even defendable policies to unjustifiable extremes because of their animus to those who are undermining their desired cultural values. In the case of Ben Gvir, it is the Jewish hegemony that Arabs can undermine, whether they are Israeli citizens or living in the West Bank, the biblical homeland. For Miller, immigrations should be deported as they are undermining his core values of Western civilization. And their efforts are aided by key officials: Christi Noem and Bezalel Smotrich.
Well-known Israeli commentator Jack Omer-Jackaman lamented,
Ben Gvir tells us he’s changed, that he’s outgrown the outrages of his misspent “Kahanist years,” but it would stretch credulity to breaking point to accept the plea of youthful exuberance when—to give but two examples from a truly long list of outrages—a portrait of [mass murderer] Baruch Goldstein remained in pride of place in the Ben Gvir household after he had entered his fifth decade, and when he retains mutual friends (one of whom is soon to be his deputy) with Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin.
As for Stephen Miller, he wrote, “The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost?” This viewpoint leads Miller to implement policies which demonize immigrants regardless of their legal status, in order to halt all forms of immigration.
It would be a mistake, however, to believe their actions have universal acceptance within each of the administrations. For example, when Ben Gvir and Smotrich attempted to freeze already approved funding of Arab communities, there was a noticeable pushback by other members of the ruling coalition. Interior Minister Arbel overrode Smotrich’s decisions, sending the frozen funds, as well as substantial additional emergency funds, to Arab municipalities.
Indeed, the current Netanyahu-led government did adopt a five-year plan for East Jerusalem. Its confirmation resolution stated, “The development and prosperity of Jerusalem…for the benefit of all its citizens…is based on the integration of East Jerusalem residents into the fabric of urban life and Israeli society.” Even here, Smotrich and Ben Gvir attempted to cut those funds that aided East Jerusalem students seeking entry into Israeli colleges. Since the initiation of this funding in 2018, the number of Palestinian students from East Jerusalem who study in Israel for the first year of their BA surged by 85 percent (to 1,218 students). They’re gambit proved unsuccessful as the budget for this program was allocated to encourage higher education for Arab youth.
While Ben Gvir’s budgetary efforts and incitements against Arab citizens have been unsuccessful, he has met little pushback in his war against Palestinians. Since the beginning of the war, Ben Gvir greatly expanded the ability of Jews in the West Bank to obtain guns. In January 2026, Ben-Gvir approved the possibility for settlers in 18 additional settlements in the West Bank to apply for gun licenses. In March, he extended approval to 41 Jewish communities in East Jerusalem. These actions have contributed to a growth of violence. Israeli government data indicated that “serious” attacks, including shootings and arson, rose from 83 on 2024 to 128 incidents in 2025.
The disastrous Minneapolis efforts might have been a wake-up call for Trump. There, Noem backed Gregory Bovino’s aggressive tactics that seemed to go well beyond a focus on immigrants with criminal records. As CNN reported, “Bovino’s bravado and heavy-handed arrest tactics in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and Minneapolis captured the administration’s aggressive approach to its mass deportation pledge. Trump not only replaced Noem with Tom Holman and sent Bovino packing, but essentially eliminated her from the administration.
Even Miller came under attack for giving government approval for initiating the aggressive Minneapolis actions. Senator Thom Tillis, a retiring North Carolina Republican, recently said that Trump should cast Miller aside, following his decision to characterize Pretti as a terrorist.
“That is amateur hour at its worst,” Tillis said. “Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence.” The president — who is aware that his immigration crackdown has privately confided to aides that he is uncomfortable with “how far Miller has gone on some fronts.”
Holman has been known for a much more focused campaign on immigrants with criminal records and a willingness to work with local officials. Unlike the ideologically-driven Miller and the publicity-driven Noem, Holman spent thirty years on border patrol before Obama elevated him in 2013 to associate director of enforcement and removal. Indeed, in 2015 Obama honored him with the Presidential Rank Award for his efforts.
During that time, ICE had an office in Minneapolis jails and their retainers were honored. This policy ended in 2021 as Minneapolis politics shifted as a result of the George Floyd killing and Biden’s victory. Given his background, one of the first things Holman was able to do was convince a number of law enforcement officials to again work with ICE, enabling its presence in Minnesota to be substantially reduced. CNN reported that the Trump administration plans to double down on targeted immigration enforcement, taking Holman’s efforts in Minneapolis and applying them to multiple cities nationwide, according to current and former Homeland Security officials.
It is deeply troubling that Miller remains in the Trump Administration while Smotrich and Ben Gvir remain in the Netanyahu Administration. However, we should hope that their harmful and sometimes inhuman efforts will be increasingly thwarted. Hopefully, with national elections, these noxious policies can be completely eliminated.
