The writing was on the wall with the Patriot Act. “When we say you’re a terrorist, you lose all rights and protections” is merely a gradual difference to what is happening now.
To me, this looks very much like testing the waters. Stephen Miller said, "To all ICE officers, you have federal immunity." ICE has blocked state law enforcement from investigations into the killings. ICE has said they're done with their investigation of the last one, and those fuckers are still working.