Having first read The Crossing and having heard the story of Bambino, I was initially very excited to receive a notification from my Medium account that the article, “Meet a boy who survived ‘The Crossing'” had been published. I knew of Bambino’s burden as one of the oldest in his family to provide for his orphaned siblings back home, and his subsequent desire to seek asylum in the E.U. for means of a better life. The feat that these sub-Saharan migrants endure to travel to Morocco and prepare for The Crossing is unimaginable, and so for a 14-year-old boy to have made it over the sky high barbed wire fences and past the corrupt Guardia Civil, I was hopeful. Hearing of what Bambino was met with after his successful crossing, shattered my spirits. It is unbelievably devastating that these migrants who do successfully cross, will likely end up in detention centers or temporary refugee camps, on average, for over 15 years. The suffering that continues upon being detained emphasizes the failure of world immigration systems in determining asylum and refugee status, and protecting those in these holding spots. Given that the “UNHCR’s rejection rate for asylum-seekers from Africa is significantly higher than from any other world region,” most of those who cross will also be denied asylum and sent back to their home countries. This issue that Bambino is currently experiencing firsthand has provoked me to question the immigration systems of not only these nations, but of ours’ at home. The migrant and refugee quotas set by the United States are being radically lessened, particularly with respect to Middle Eastern migrants in countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria. While we may not be able to influence those policies of countries such as Spain with regards to refugee quotas, we should investigate possibilities into revising our situation at home.