White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller raised eyebrows this week after telling Latin American military leaders they effectively have permission to ignore legal advice while confronting drug cartels.
Speaking Thursday at the Americas Counter-Cartel Conference, Miller argued that criminal justice tools alone cannot defeat powerful trafficking organizations and instead called for beefing up military force.
“[What] we have learned after decades of effort is that there is not a criminal justice solution to the cartel problem,” Miller said. While acknowledging that law enforcement is required in some situations, he added, “But just as we fought al-Qaida and fought ISIS with the tip of a very lethal sphere, the reason why this is a conference with military leadership, and not a conference of lawyers, is because these organizations can only be defeated with military power.”
Speaking to a group of Latin American military leaders, the senior Trump adviser then took aim at lawyers in their own governments.
“I see some heads nodding up front because they understand you’re dealing with a lot of lawyers in your own country, I’m sure,” he said. “You have my permission not to listen to them.”
The comments drew criticism from legal and political observers who blasted Miller’s “strongman’s” worldview.
“At the heart of Miller’s pitch was the idea that it was necessary to combat drug cartels, not through law enforcement techniques or border control, but rather by using deadly military force,” MS Now producer and political commentator Steve Benen wrote in a blog post Friday.
“When Donald Trump’s most controversial aide starts advising officials not to listen too much to attorneys, it’s best not to look away,” he concluded.
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