Ex-Trump aide Stephen Miller floated blowing up migrant boats with drones, book claims

Miller denies accusation

A new book from a former Trump administration appointee accuses top former White House official Stephen Miller of a desire to break international law with a suggestion to use military force against unarmed civilians attempting to migrate to the US.

A spokesperson for Mr Miller denied that the conversation, first detailed in an upcoming book by Miles Taylor, took place. Excerpts of the book were obtained by Rolling Stone and published on Tuesday.

In the book, Mr Taylor accuses Mr Miller of making the remark during a conversation with Admiral Paul Zukunft of the US Coast Guard.

His supposed remarks were directed towards a boat reportedly carrying a group of migrants bound for US shores — presumably with the intention of applying for asylum or escaping into the wider US after landing illegally on US shores. Under federal law, migrants seeking to apply for asylum must first reach US soil to begin the application process.

“Tell me why can’t we use a Predator drone to obliterate that boat?” Mr Miller is quoted by Mr Taylor as saying.

Mr Taylor further reported that the admiral went on to explain that the US was bound by international law, which among other things spells out the immorality of using military force against civilian targets and defines that as a war crime.

The magazine reported that Mr Zukunft claims “no recollection” of the quote in question, but “vividly recall[ed] having a lengthy conversation with Stephen Miller regarding south-west border security in 2018”.

“To use deadly force to thwart maritime migration would be preposterous and the antithesis of our nation’s vanguard for advancing human rights,” said Mr Zukunft in a statement to Rolling Stone.

Mr Miller’s representative, meanwhile, strongly denied that the former Trump aide had made the suggestion.

“This is a complete fiction that exists only in the mind of Miles Taylor desperate to stay relevant by fabricating material for his new book,” they told Rolling Stone.

But it isn’t the first time Mr Miller has been reported to have made comments about immigration and migrants that have shocked those in his presence and drawn accusations of racism, bigotry, and flat-out callousness towards vulnerable civilians fleeing from persecution.

In the fall of 2021, CNN reported that Mr Miller had made a racist comment in response to the idea of working to ensure that Afghans and Iraqis who worked for the US military as translators, fixers, and local guides would be protected from backlash — an idea that became all too relevant with the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban later that year.

“What do you guys want? A bunch of Iraqs and ‘Stans across the country?” Mr Miller was reported to have said during a 2018 Cabinet meeting, using a derogatory slur for persons of Afghan descent.