Immigration is not an African Problem

Some people in the West, especially the rich and powerful have propagated - and successfully so - a narrative of immigration that portrays Africans as the problem and the western world as a region that is overwhelmed and burdened by this "African problem." I have problems with this narrative. Not necessarily because immigration is not problematic but because this kind of binary is not only unfair but also irrational. If we were to grant that immigration (especially when it is illegal and irregular) is a problem, we should equally be ready to be reasonable enough to agree that it is a global - and not an African - problem. Many people are migrating for various reasons to various locations of the world. There is evidence to show that many of these people, whether Africans, Europeans or Asians etc, do it illegally and irregularly. Our friends in the western world should be well alive to the fact that there are many illegal white immigrants in Africa as well. I think if and when African countries will start counting illegal European, Asian and American immigrants in Africa who have come to the continent at times on tourist visas, sometimes without any visa and made African countries their homes without due processes, the world will realise that the so called immigration crisis is not and has never been an African problem.