Back in February, Gallup reported that immigration had surged to the top spot on voters’ lists of priorities for the first time in five years. Meanwhile, Pew Research Center data from the same rough time period conflicts with that finding a bit, ranking the economy as voters’ top priority (with the border crisis not far behind it). It’s not a stretch to say Biden is worried about his polling numbers and isn’t sure how to bring the economic relief to which voters might respond positively (nor on the timeline required to get his credit at the ballot box).

So immigration it is.

“The entry of any noncitizen into the United States across the southern border is hereby suspended and limited,” reads Biden’s latest executive order, issued yesterday. “When border encounters between ports of entry hit an average of 2,500 per day over a seven-day period, migrants will no longer be allowed to seek asylum unless they qualify for a narrow exception or request an appointment at a port of entry through an app (a process that has been glitchy and cumbersome),” writes Reason‘s Fiona Harrigan.

After a sustained period of fewer people attempting to come in via ports of entry (1,500 people or fewer per day on average over the course of a week, for two weeks), asylum seeking will be reopened. Right now, that daily number is hovering around 3,500, having been closer to 3,800 for much of last month (and 8,000 daily crossings for much of December).