Unhappy Father’s Day: The Dad of Trump Immigration Advisor

The picture is from Hollywood Reporter, showing White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller in his synagogue’s confirmation class photo (he’s at the back, far left [wrong position for him]). 

The New York Times is reporting this weekend that Miller is the architect of the family separation policy. The paper is also reporting that others in the White House view the policy as “unfeasible in practice and questionable morally.”

Maybe Michael Miller, Stephen’s dad, is having a happy Father’s Day weekend.

As a Jewish dad with similarities to Michael Miller, I suspect he is profoundly unhappy.

The dad is described as a “liberal-leaning” real estate investor. But that’s just a start.

Stephen’s mother’s family came to America in the early 1900s to escape a Belarus pogrom— a state-encouraged form of mob action where peasants attacked Jews. His great-grandmother only spoke Yiddish, a language virtually unique to Jews, when she arrived at Ellis Island. 

Her progeny followed so many immigrant families—from all over the world— to assimilate and achieve success.

Stephen Miller is a deeply stained racist—a guy who invited Richard Spencer, America’s leading neo-Nazi, to Duke while this senior advisor was a student leader of the Duke Conservative Union.

As a Jewish father, and a son of an immigrant, I feel empathy for Michael Miller.

Being a father doesn’t mean raising your son or daughter to be your clone.

But fathers and mothers usually care about instilling core values in their children.

That’s probably why Michael and Miriam Miller enrolled Stephen in religious school.

How Stephen Miller ended up 18 years after this sweet if trite synagogue photo organizing the White House effort to separate more than 2,000 young children from their parents since April is a profound mystery.