The shooter turned out to be an Afghan migrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, admitted under a bipartisan program to allow Afghanis who worked with and aided our military to enter the United States to avoid being put to death by the Taliban. He entered while Biden was president, and was granted amnesty when Trump was president. There was nothing about this that would have raised concerns, until Lakanwal shot two West Virginia National Guard persons, one of whom has since died and may, perhaps, have President Trump attend her funeral.

While the motive has yet to be determined, the hysteria has rushed forward. Initially, Trump has directed the suspension of immigration processing for all Afghan immigrants, because one committed a heinous act. Ilya Somin explains why this collective “punishment” is wrong, discriminatory and counterproductive.

In response, the Trump Administration has “indefinitely” suspended processing of all immigration-related applications by Afghans, including those legally in the US already. The Trump Administration has already been trying to deport many recent Afghan migrants, and this attack may serve a convenient excuse for further actions along these lines.

It would be bad enough if it ended there, merely using the crime of one to punish all, but unsurprisingly, it didn’t end there.

I realize that some of us may get stuck on “permanent pause,” even though that’s apparently what stable geniuses write, but the breathtaking scope of what Trump proposes goes far beyond the malignant re-vetting of all Afghans. This is Stephen Miller’s wet dream, removing anyone and everyone, legal or illegal, permanent resident or naturalized citizen, whom Trump deems “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

To say this treads on virgin turf is an understatement, and each level of removability involves a different legal analysis to consider the lawfulness of Trump’s intended action. It’s almost certain that he can’t de-naturalize citizens because he doesn’t deem them WASPy enough. But as to others, the scope of presidential power is unclear.

He’s apparently learned from the fiasco following his Muslim ban that he can’t exclude people based solely on religious animus, but the Supreme Court has held that the president is entitled to substantial deference in determining who presents enough of a threat to be excluded from entering or remaining in the United States.

In the absence of Congressional action, which seems pretty much a given under the circumstances, and with ICE and CBP thrilled to do Trump’s bidding with impunity and without legal constraints, the potential for this directive to wreak havoc and harm is mind-boggling. Will Congress put its foot down and say no? Will anyone in the Trump administration tell the president that he can’t shoot protesters in the legs? No one at the White House has shown the guts to call out the bombing of boats and murder of their occupants, so why would anyone suggest to Trump that he can’t just round up all the non-Europeans and send them off to Sudan?

It’s possible that Trump will forget he wrote this, become distracted by whatever the next news cycle brings that will turn people’s attention away from the Epstein files, and do nothing that he says in his twit. But then, the MAGA faithful are thrilled by Trump’s latest foray into making America WASPish again, and there are few things Trump loves better than being adored.

All this because one Afghan, a person who was allowed to come here because he worked with our military, for reasons unknown, and granted amnesty after vetting by the Trump administration, committed a heinous crime. For Trump and Miller, it was the perfect excuse.