Analysis: What Stephen Miller gets wrong about debt, deficits and immigration

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks with members of the press outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Aug. 29, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | The U.S. national debt grew past 100% of gross domestic product last month, putting the country on the path to beat the record of 106% of GDP set in 1946 , coming out of World War II. That record is on pace to shatter around 2029, just as Donald Trump 's presidency is ending, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has identified a culprit for what might otherwise be a grim legacy, he said at a Trump administration anti-fraud event Tuesday. "I believe based on what I've seen and what I've heard is that we could balance the federal budget if the only dollars that went out of the Treasury went to individuals who were properly lawfully correctly eligible to receive them," Miller said. Miller's figures far overstate the federal government's published estimates for misspent funds, and overlook that immigrants generally help improve, not worsen, the budget deficit. But the problem isn't just misleading math. The Trump administration's inability to take the deficit seriously is worsening Americans' affordability crisis today and threatening a debt crisis down the road. The deficit is the difference between what the federal government takes in from taxes and other revenue and what it spends on. That adds to the cumulative federal debt. …