Commentary The executive order has had a big year. Governors have issued them to impose lockdowns and travel restrictions in the fight against COVID. And, of course, President Biden made a splash in his first days in office by using executive orders to, among other things, stop the Keystone pipeline and loosen the clampdown on illegal border crossings. Since executive orders are currently so prominent in politics, it pays to know what they are. In essence, they are orders given by a chief executive that direct the implementation of laws by agencies under the executive’s control. At least in theory, executive orders are not meant to create policy so much as to carry it out. Yet theory only goes so far in government, and the way policies are carried out will affect, to some degree, policy outcomes. In the case of immigration, an executive order that reduces aggressive border patrols …