A Republican congressman blasts the Trump administration for going in the 'wrong direction' over immigration

Larry French/Getty Images for SiriusXM

• Republican Rep. Mike Coffman said the Trump administration is "heading in the wrong direction" as long as White House aide Stephen Miller is advising the president.
• Coffman has called on Trump to fire Miller.

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Mike Coffman said the Trump administration is "heading in the wrong direction" over the ongoing immigration reform problems and controversies on the US-Mexico border.

For Coffman, the only solution is for President Donald Trump to fire Stephen Miller, a senior adviser on immigration policy in the White House.

In an interview with Business Insider in the Colorado Republican's Capitol Hill office on Friday, Coffman expressed frustration with the White House's approach to the entire crisis at the border.

"I fully understand and the president said that he didn't have the authority initially. He said he didn't have the authority under current law, he had to separate them," Coffman said. "However, the fact is that the administration had all the time in the world to come before Congress to get that provision changed and who would have denied them that?"

As Coffman put it, long before the Trump administration began implementing the zero-tolerance policy that led to family separations and the displacement of thousands of immigrant and asylum-seeking children, the White House could have approached Congress and asked for a legislative fix in advance to avoid the chaos of the past few weeks.

"That could have been done very quickly in the Congress. I don't think anybody would've opposed that on either party," Coffman said. "But they didn't do that. And I just think that Stephen Miller is completely tone deaf when it comes to reforming our immigration system."

Coffman, who had worked on an immigration bill dubbed the "compromise" bill between moderates and Republican leaders, was less optimistic about the path forward as long as Miller has the president's ear.

"You will not get anything done. It will never pass the Congress without some element of compromise," he said. "And I just don't think Stephen Miller - having met him and had the opportunity to talk to him once - is capable of advising the president how to navigate that terrain."

Coffman sees the Trump administration is moving down an incorrect path with Miller at the helm.

"I think the the administration is headed in the wrong direction," he said. "And I think as long as he's there, that direction will continue."

"The time is now, but with Stephen Miller there I believe the door will continue to be closed," Coffman added. "He is Steve Bannon. I mean he's a Steve Bannon prototype. His ideas are virtually the same as Steve Bannon when it comes to immigration. And this White House, for the good of the country, to achieve their own goals, I think has to change course."

A spokesperson for the White House was not immediately available for comment.