Don’t be confused by the days of mixed messaging from Donald Trump’s campaign, or the head-feint trip to Mexico, where he was polite to the president. Speaking on Wednesday in Phoenix, Mr. Trump did not retreat from, or in any way soften, his promise to make 11 million unauthorized immigrants targets for deportation. His speech — in 10 points, embellished with statistics, ad-libbed asides and audience hollering and chanting — was as clear a statement of hard-core restrictionism as any he has given.

It was a mass-deportation speech, even if he avoided that phrase. Its intent was hard to miss.

Leave aside the bit about the “impenetrable” wall, an applause line for an engineering fiction. To understand what’s so appalling and frightening about Mr. Trump, focus instead on some things he could actually try to do, if America gives him the job and Congress gives the money:

1. “Under my administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country and back to the country from which they came. And they’ll be brought great distances.”

2. “We will issue detainers for illegal immigrants who are arrested for any crime whatsoever, and they will be placed into immediate removal proceedings.”