They come by foot, by raft, by hope. Mothers with calloused hands, children clinging to plastic bags of memory, young men with more ambition than passport stamps. Migrants march north, west, anywhere but home.
And who can blame them?
In a world where nearly half the global population lives on less than $5.50 a day, and nearly 90% of people earn under $2 a day, the promise of $15 an hour and clean drinking water isn’t just attractive – it’s a lifeline.
And yet, here we are in 2025, watching America swing like a drunken pendulum from Biden’s chaotic compassion to Trump’s merciless militarism. One opened the gates without a clue what was behind them; the other slammed them shut with a steel-toed boot. Neither addressed the actual disease – only the symptoms.
Flood of Migrants
Let’s talk numbers. Under Biden, over 7 million migrants crossed into the U.S. between 2021 and 2024. Cities like New York and Chicago, once symbols of welcome, now plead for help as shelters burst and budgets break.
These aren’t just “new Americans.” These are desperate, undocumented, unprocessed human beings stuck in bureaucratic purgatory.
And don’t get smug, Europe. Spain, Italy, France, the UK – all dealing with a similar influx, all equally unprepared.
Canada? Backlogged for years.
Australia? Quietly offshoring its humanity to Pacific islands.
Huge Numbers
The population of South America alone is over 430 million, and less than 0.1% of that number ever makes it to the U.S. Does anyone really think that absorbing a few million will solve anything?
Meanwhile, the world watches America’s schizophrenic foreign policy.
Biden, hailed by many as a responsible leader, poured over $100 billion into the Ukraine war, not with boots on the ground, not with mediation or diplomacy, but with weapons – because, of course, peace is bad for business.
Refugees from Ukraine and surrounding countries flooded Europe, while U.S. arms dealers flooded their ledgers with zeroes. America helped create a humanitarian crisis from 5,000 miles away and clapped for itself in the process.
The Real Problem
So here’s the heart of the matter: migration is not the disease. It’s a fever.
The real illnesses are corrupt regimes, broken justice systems, religious fascism, economic collapse, and failed education. These are the tumors forcing people to flee.
And what have Biden and Trump done about that? Nothing. Biden offered warm words and open arms – but no infrastructure, no fix, no plan. Trump builds walls and prisons – also no fix, also no plan.
We need leaders who don’t just ask, “How many can we take in?” but instead dare to ask, “Why are they fleeing in the first place?”
Demand Reform
That means using economic leverage, diplomatic pressure, conditional aid, and global coalitions to demand reforms in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. If the governments of Sudan, Venezuela, India, Syria, even Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan treat their people like collateral damage, why does the West reward them with trade and aid?
Trump hardened on some but not to improve the lives of their people but simple MAGA. The world on the other hand wants real leadership, which is missing at home far longer than our memories recall.
Let’s stop pretending that resettling 1% of the poor fixes anything. The real victory would be helping the other 99% live where they were born – without fear, without hunger, and without having to risk their children’s lives on the back of a smuggler’s truck.
Until then, this crisis will continue. And both the left and right in America will continue their theatrical finger-pointing – while millions walk, float, and crawl toward a mirage of freedom that neither Biden nor Trump ever really understood.
Dr. CrystalHeart Kazmi is a reformist thinker and founder of WomenAreVotes.com, advocating for global justice, institutional reform, and humane governance.
