After he dropped several hints that he would take executive action on the United States-Mexico border, President Joe Biden announced that he was signing such an order on Tuesday.

According to Politico, this executive order would basically shut down the border at midnight; the order gives the president the power to “close the border in between ports of entry when there is an average of 2,500 crossings a day over a seven day period.”

Also included in the order:

The new actions aim to restrict asylum by making a number of changes to the president’s Title 8 authority, long-established procedures that allow the government to remove from the country people who are unable to establish a legal basis. People who cross the border unlawfully will be deemed ineligible for asylum absent of compelling circumstances, and they will only be referred to an asylum officer under specific circumstances. And migrants who are screened by an asylum officer will also face higher standards than what was previously used to determine fear or the intention to seek asylum.

The move by Biden to take executive action got mixed reactions from across the political spectrum. For the right, it’s too little, too late, and many wondered why he didn’t take the action in the first place. On the left, they believe the order plays right into the hands of former President Donald Trump and his conservative supporters.

Politico reported that senior administration officials called the executive order a “last resort” after several attempts — and failures — by Congress to pass a bipartisan border bill. One such bill, authored by right-leaning Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), was scuttled by Trump, who wanted to deny Biden a victory during an election year. But even the executive order needs support from Congress; Politico noted that the officials “continued to warn that the president is constrained by funding and resources approved by lawmakers.”

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