So the bill: i) created a new draconian enforcement power; and ii) limited the circumstances in which that new power could be implemented. The fact that the new power was limited to circumstances with large numbers of border encounters did not codify the border encounters as legal - it was just a limitation on when the new enforcement power kicked in.

No.

i) What "draconian enforcement power"? There is no such thing as "enforcement power" at all if the Chief Executive chooses not to do anything to secure the border. What possible indication was there that the democrats ever took the southern border seriously before public opinion effectively was so overwhelmingly in favor of the GOP?

ii) The bill gave every democrat President an excuse to allow 5,000 people a day - and more resources to process them in faster - before this alleged new power could take hold. At the 5,000 trigger the democrat merely says, "Okay, that's it. No more today!" and the caravans merely camp out in Mexico for a week to wait their turn.

The bill was crap for another reason: It provided an incentive to be one of the lucky 5,000 that happens to rush the border on a given day. That would have acted as a rather large magnet pulling more people up the US.