M’Liege, I have retrieved yon bill for ye.

“(3) ACTIVATIONS OF AUTHORITY.—

“(A) DISCRETIONARY ACTIVATION.—The Secretary may activate the border emergency authority if, during a period of 7 consecutive calendar days, there is an average of 4,000 or more aliens who are encountered each day.

“(B) MANDATORY ACTIVATION.—The Secretary shall activate the border emergency authority if—

“(i) during a period of 7 consecutive calendar days, there is an average of 5,000 or more aliens who are encountered each day; or

“(ii) on any 1 calendar day, a combined total of 8,500 or more aliens are encountered.

Now you may say, “Aha, we have you hyperbolic hexbears now, it clearly says that the president doesn’t just get to shut it down until they figure out ‘what the hell is going on’!”

Which is correct. What it does is tie their hands such that they must shut the border down when an arbitrary number is reached, so they don’t have to actually do anything and can plead their powerlessness when it happens. After all it’s not up to them, it’s just a mandate of a conservative law… that they want to pass.