Business leaders in industries that depend on immigrant labour have reacted with anger and alarm to President Donald Trump's decision to make Stephen Miller White House chief of staff.

Miller has been the central designer of the administration's border crackdowns and mass deportation drive. Elevating him to run the West Wing days after a midterm defeat signals that immigration enforcement will stay at the core of the second term agenda even as Democrats prepare to take both chambers of Congress.

Employers in farming, food processing, construction, hospitality and care work have long warned that sudden removals and worksite raids leave shifts unfilled and harvests at risk. Public comments after the appointment described fear of tougher interior enforcement and astonishment that the president chose the hardest line figure available for the most powerful staff job.

The political calculation cuts the other way for Trump's base, which treats Miller as proof that midterm losses will not soften deportation goals. For companies the practical questions are staffing, visas and whether Congress will now fight the White House over funding and oversight of immigration agencies. Miller's promotion turns those questions from a campaign theme into a standing operating risk for any firm that cannot fill jobs without foreign born workers.