Whoa — 18,000 a day? That would be more than 3.2 million in the next six months. Even if the real number is half that, it would smash the record that has just been set. No wonder the emergency agencies of the U.S. government are involved. “There is no imaginable scenario for them to avoid another disaster,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tighter immigration restrictions. In an email exchange, Vaughan described what is coming in a way that is so vivid and concerning, it is worth quoting in full:

Title 42 has been a convenient substitute under Biden for real border enforcement using immigration laws. They’ve had the best of both worlds — an easy way to efficiently refuse entry to enough migrants to enable them to deny the “open borders” critique, without using detention while still allowing a huge number of families and “vulnerable” migrants to enter and get work permits. But we’ve all known that it would have to end at some point since it’s linked to the pandemic conditions. Now the clock is ticking for them to come up with a plan to deal with the tsunami of new illegal border crossers from around the globe who reportedly are already flocking to Mexico in anticipation of even more lenient catch-and-release rules. There is no imaginable scenario for them to avoid another disaster. The word is out across the globe that the Biden administration likely will not send anyone home. Most likely, Biden and [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas will talk tough but indulge the migrants to the maximum extent possible. Mayorkas will talk about processing migrants, not returning them; he’ll have reception centers instead of detention, and ask for their names and fingerprints, and then release them to go where they please; he will use gimmicks to justify granting asylum and work permits to give them a faux legal status; he will promise to remove failed asylum-seekers but will devote no resources to locating them. The administration will do its best to whisk the migrants through some system. They believe that they have nothing to lose. They are betting that even without one-party rule next year, it will be too hard to remove, deport, or block legal status for the millions they have let in, and when their party regains control, they can give out the green cards and cultivate a new generation of loyal Democratic voters.