HOUSTON — Illegal immigration remains a top concern for voters. President Joe Biden is under increased pressure to do something to curb it.
On Tuesday, Biden plans to take action with a new executive order marking a significant policy change.
The executive order would temporarily shut down the southern border when illegal border crossings exceed a certain threshold. It would be the president's most aggressive, unilateral action on the border yet.
"The timing of it is very political," said Houston immigration attorney, Mana Yegani.
Yegani said the timing of it all is impossible to ignore just 24 days before the first presidential debate with Donald Trump.
"He wants to have ammunition in his hand to say I did do something about the border crisis," Yegani said.
CBS News has learned Biden's order will shut off asylum access and immediately deport migrants at times when U.S. authorities are overwhelmed with illegal crossings.
"There's going to be a daily quota of how many people can come to the U.S. knock on the door and say I want to ask for asylum," Yegani said.
That cap appears to be a daily average of 2,500 illegal crossings. The border would temporarily shut down for asylum access between legal ports of entry until the average daily number of illegal crossings dips below 1,500.
Under those metrics, Biden's order could take effect immediately. Right now, illegal crossings are averaging more than 3,500 per day in recent weeks.
"It's yet to be seen how it will be implemented once the border will be shut down," Yegani said. "How are they going to control the crowd once they shut down the border?"
The election of a new president in Mexico will play a huge role in exactly how Biden's order is implemented. Adding to the uncertainty are lawsuits that will most certainly be filed days after Biden issues his order tomorrow.
"We could see a massive surge of people trying to come in before the federal court makes a final ruling on the executive order's facility," Yegani said.
The White House said it's doing this now because Republicans killed a bipartisan immigration deal earlier this year that would've done something similar.
To be clear, the policy would not impact regular operations at legal ports of entry along the southern border.