Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s campaign spokeswoman and his incoming Press Secretary, is already firing on all cylinders as Trump’s mouthpiece for controversy. She’s already particularly skilled at saying horrifying things in a very nonchalant way.

That’s why, when Leavitt appeared on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, and confirmed what had previously only been rumored, it didn’t sound like that big a deal. In fact, it sounded like downright business as usual.

“He will use the power of his pen to deliver on many of the promises he made to the American people on the campaign trail to secure our southern border,” she told her host Maria Bartiromo.

But if you were actually watching that show — and I doubt many of my readers do — you could hear what she tacked on to the end of that statement:

“Well, securing the southern border, perhaps looking at Title 42. Many of these executive actions are still being considered by our policy teams and also our lawyers.”

In case you don’t remember what Title 42 is, that’s what Trump used during his first administration to stem the tide of immigrants coming to the country during the early days of COVID. It’s a section of a public health law from 1944 that allows the government to restrict immigration based on the possibility of communicable disease.

At the time, the use of the obscure rule was controversial, because people fleeing violence or other hardships were forced to sit and wait in highly dangerous conditions in Mexico or elsewhere while they were prohibited from entering the U.S. This led to significant humanitarian concerns, as well as a look into whether the rule was being abused in violation of the laws and treaties made surrounding it.

In short, both US and international law provide that any person entering the US may seek asylum, subject to verification of the circumstances of the reason for leaving their home country. Trump discovered that he could use Title 42 to deliberately turn away people legally coming and asking for asylum.

As the Biden administration lifted COVID restrictions, the restrictions relating to Title 42 also expired.

What Leavitt has just confirmed is that Trump intends to use the obscure law to now illegally deny asylum seekers entry to the United States. Because there is no public health emergency, any use of Title 42 would be outside its purview.

Underscoring the fact that Trump only wants to use this is the fact that the Biden administration actually already implemented the maximum legally allowable restrictions on immigration outside the use of Title 42 — meaning Trump just wants to be able to say he shut down the border entirely.

These guys are not concerned about legal status. They are not concerned with public safety or legal compliance or even just making sure that people follow the correct procedures under US and international law.

They just want to stop all immigration.