Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff and one of the architects of his immigration policies, is no idiot. He’s the product of one of the country’s best public school systems and a graduate of Duke University. And since at least the ripe age of 16, he has been stewing about America’s immigration policies.

So, when Miller declared this month that the illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia “is not a ‘Maryland man.’ He is not a ‘Maryland’ anything,” one should assume that his words were deliberate and by design.

Political analysts have suggested that Miller’s comments — since echoed by the vice president, the White House press secretary and others — were primarily focused on drawing Democrats further into a spat about immigration and onto unfavorable political turf, but that’s only half the picture.

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For all the madness of this administration and its actors, they are experts in the execution of the “othering playbook.” At its core, it’s as simple as centering a policy debate on an individual and then relentlessly defining that individual in a way that is politically beneficial. This helps to shift what is often a complicated........

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