Ex-Biden officials Jason Houser (former ICE Chief of Staff) and Troy Miller (former acting CBP Commissioner) are part of a group tasked with suggesting enhancements to the Trump administration’s National Targeting Center (NTC) at CBP. A high-level source inside the agency is mystified by how overseers of Biden-era policies that led to record-breaking border failures are now working with the current CBP Commissioner on this key national security effort.
Records reviewed by Breitbart Texas reveal that Jason Houser — who has labeled Trump’s immigration policies “racist” — and Troy Miller — who, as Biden’s Acting CBP Commissioner, often amplified Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s claims that the Biden-era border was closed to irregular migration — joined a Tuesday meeting with senior Trump administration CBP officials to discuss NTC changes.
The CBP National Targeting Center analyzes traveler data and threat intelligence to flag high-risk individuals before they board U.S.-bound flights. It cross-checks passenger information against U.S. government databases and no-fly lists. The source could not explain how Houser and Miller are positioned to “improve” high-risk traveler screening when a House Judiciary Committee report exposed nearly 100 terrorist watchlist suspects were inadvertently released into the United States at the southwest border during their prominent tenures in the Biden-Harris DHS.
CBP policy requires staff to notify the Commissioner of headquarters-level meetings with external entities. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
The source, not authorized to speak to the media, says financial incentives may be behind the inclusion of Houser and Miller in the high-level project to provide improved technologies to the NTC, as the two are part of George Mason University’s (GMU) Rapid Prototyping Research Center. According to their website, both are part of GMU’s Rapid Prototyping Research Center’s leadership team. The GMU team partners with large federal contractors to provide technology improvement recommendations and solutions to its customers.
CBP Scheduling Screen showing contacts with Houser and Miller. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
The source says the inclusion of the pair in the national security project is a slap in the face to CBP employees who had to deal with the impact of open-border policies during the Biden-Harris years. “There is no one more publicly critical of the Trump administration efforts to enforce immigration laws than Houser, he’s appeared time after time alleging the current efforts to arrest illegal aliens are based on skin color and not existing immigration law,” the source told Breitbart Texas.
Border Innovation Meeting shows coordination between Houser and Powell (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
During a June 2025 segment of MSNBC’s Deadline: White House program, speaking about immigration efforts by the Trump administration in Los Angeles, Houser told host Nicolle Wallace, “Let’s just level-set this now, the incidents in LA over the last few days is not just over an issue or activity over the last 48 to 72 hours or few days, it is a build up over 100 days now of short sighted sort of, quite frankly racist policies directed by the White House.” Houser went on to allege the Trump immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles were quota based and directed toward “non-criminal migrants, sometimes grandmothers, vulnerable populations, children, those that can’t even possibly be removed.”
In April, Houser offered commentary to MS NOW about the deportation of known MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying the removal of the Salvadoran national now facing charges of human smuggling by the Trump administration was “Purely political theater.”
'Purely political theater'
— MS NOW Reports (@MSNOW_Reports) April 15, 2025
A hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, is being held today.
Former Chief of Staff for Immigration & Customs Enforcement Jason Houser joins @jdbalart to share his reaction to the case.https://t.co/qijToOdFcm
In a highly charged exchange with Representative Brandon Gill (R-TX) during congressional testimony in May 2025, Houser was called out for describing current immigration enforcement efforts away from the border as dangerous political theater in a New York Times editorial essay Houser authored. Gill asked the former ICE Chief of Staff if he knew who Gilberto Avila-Jara was, later telling Houser that Avila-Jara was an illegal alien arrested in April who was responsible for more than twenty counts of sex crimes against minors. The Texas congressman capped off his exchange with Houser, saying, “These were the kind of people that Joe Biden and under your leadership were coming into our country.”
WATCH: @RepBrandonGill shreds former Biden ICE official Jason Houser for calling President Trump's immigration enforcement "political theater." pic.twitter.com/e4ItRtBZ9h
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) May 20, 2025
The source says the addition of former Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller to the team of “experts” tasked with improving CBP’s National Targeting Center is just as astonishing as Houser’s. “Miller worked hand in hand with former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to streamline the processes that opened the border. His catch phrase of implementing ‘decompression’ strategies at the border was just a code word for releasing more illegal aliens as quickly as possible,” the source added.
Miller stood alongside then DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in Del Rio, Texas, in 2021 as the former secretary, as he told reporters he was taken by surprise by the illegal entry of more than 30,000 mostly Haitian nationals into the small Texas border town. At a press event held at a port of entry in Del Rio, Miller reiterated that the border was not open to illegal migration.
The events in Del Rio would culminate with false accusations that Border Patrol agents on horseback had whipped Haitian migrants as they attempted to illegally enter the United States. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, President Biden continued to push the narrative and pledged he would make the agents “pay.” Miller advanced the narrative of unproven agent malfeasance in an email to employees, saying he was “shocked by the images from Del Rio of Horse Patrol Units that have dominated the media in recent days”, according to a report by Fox News.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the agents were later cleared of the allegations following a DHS investigation. The source says the incident has not been forgotten by those who felt Miller failed to defend the agents against the wrath of President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas, choosing instead to allow the allegations, easily disproved by the evidence at the time, to continue for political expediency. “Those agents were placed on leave and endured months of worry after being accused of something they knew they did not do. How someone like Miller, who played such a prominent role in the issue, is now supposed to be trusted to recommend changes to NTC is unbelievable,” the source added.
Under Mayorkas’ direction, Miller’s CBP modified the CBP One mobile phone application to facilitate a parole program that ushered in up to 1,400 migrants daily through several land border ports of entry. The often poorly vetted migrants were immediately released into the United States to pursue formal asylum claims.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, some migrants released into the United States reported not being asked any questions concerning the viability of their asylum claims before being released into the United States. The program was in effect for two years until it was cancelled by President Trump in January 2025.
Another release mechanism instituted during Miller’s tenure was known as the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole program (CHVN), which saw another 532,000 migrants admitted through airports during the three years the program was active. It too was cancelled by the Trump administration.
The source says the inclusion of Houser and Miller into the national security apparatus at CBP was only possible because they cloaked themselves in the shrowd of academia. According to the source, the pair’s presence may not be known outside of CBP headquarters, but the source says there is no denying that the inclusion of the pair was known to the current CBP Commissioner, Rodney Scott. CBP Policy at headquarters, according to a review by Breitbart Texas, indicates Scott is to be informed of “any headquarters-level meetings, work groups, or programmatic activities involving entities external to CBP.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
