The crisis prompted by hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers swarming into the United States could be about to get worse. Ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms, Republicans pounded President Joe Biden for failing to stop the flood of migrants at the U.S. southern border, while progressive Democrats criticized the administration for not doing more to help people desperately fleeing starvation, human rights abuses and gang violence.

Everyone seems to have the perfect solution: Shut down the border and seal it tight because America's security must take priority. No, wait, open the border and let everyone in because America must be a model of compassion. Both sides are right, and both are wrong. If the immigration problem were so easily solved, it would've been taken care of decades ago.

Here's why it might be about to get worse: Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest nation, is in full-blown chaos as armed gangs seize control. The Biden administration reportedly favors forming an international intervention force to restore order in the absence of Haitian government authority.

The last time conditions were this bad was 1993-94, when thousands of Haitians boarded boats in a mass migration to Florida. The U.S. Marines deployed to Haiti, while migrants rescued at sea were sent to camps in Panama. This time, conditions are far worse because of ongoing devastation from successive hurricanes, a major earthquake and a cholera epidemic. This past year, Haitians joined Venezuelans, Cubans, Colombians, Nicaraguans and Salvadorans swarming across the southern U.S. border to claim asylum.

Many endured a treacherous trek through the Darien jungle on Panama's border with Colombia to walk the remaining 2,000-plus miles to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. These are hardy individuals whose ambition to make a new life for themselves used to be the kind of character trait Republicans celebrated. Now, Republicans like Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas insist these people must be kept away at all costs, even if it means imposing pandemic-related restrictions though the coronavirus no longer poses a threat.

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis takes the opposite approach, urging the Biden administration to relax restrictions and effectively open the floodgates to the 2.2 million people apprehended while trying to enter illegally this year.

Neither option is realistic. Border security is necessary for good reasons: Without strong border enforcement, America's already-stressed immigration system would be overwhelmed. But the 100% walled-off border Cruz favors still wouldn't stop migrants from setting foot on U.S. soil and qualifying for an asylum hearing under U.S. and international law. Congress writes the laws, and those laws are what restrict the Biden administration's options.

So, until both sides stop their simplistic complaining and come up with realistic legislative solutions, the border crisis can only grow, with desperate immigrants revictimized as political pawns of the extreme American Left and Right.

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