The rub and door-opener is really herein: "while Khalil’s activities were “otherwise lawful,” letting him remain in the country would undermine [the administration's policy]"
If those who preach Law and Order were serious about the Law part, you could not just punish people without them having broken a law. Also, the law must have been the result of deliberations of a democratic institution (Congress, state assemblies) and be published (no secret laws in democratic countries). You can't just make up rules and then go punish people for not acting according to the rules. There's already a backdoor in this in that a law may stipulate that the executive branch may issue executive orders and similar things like very specific building codes (the law states building must be safe, unsafe buildings must be fixed, which institutions are responsible to look after compliance with the rules, and the institution can change the rules without needing to change a law, like the FDA banning additives and so on). But even then the 'rules' are about the nitty-gritty, the 'laws' define the outlines, and breaking a rule is still indirectly breaking a law which says you gotta stick to those rules.
The message is "we can detain and / or expel you at will and act with impunity" which is maybe some kind of Order I guess but not Lawful.
If those who preach Law and Order were serious about the Law part, you could not just punish people without them having broken a law. Also, the law must have been the result of deliberations of a democratic institution (Congress, state assemblies) and be published (no secret laws in democratic countries). You can't just make up rules and then go punish people for not acting according to the rules. There's already a backdoor in this in that a law may stipulate that the executive branch may issue executive orders and similar things like very specific building codes (the law states building must be safe, unsafe buildings must be fixed, which institutions are responsible to look after compliance with the rules, and the institution can change the rules without needing to change a law, like the FDA banning additives and so on). But even then the 'rules' are about the nitty-gritty, the 'laws' define the outlines, and breaking a rule is still indirectly breaking a law which says you gotta stick to those rules.
The message is "we can detain and / or expel you at will and act with impunity" which is maybe some kind of Order I guess but not Lawful.