Several people, including a small child, died when overcrowded boats were trying to cross the Channel to the UK, French authorities said. The interior minister said the child was trampled to death on board.
France’s interior minister said that several people, including a small child, died on Saturday trying to cross the English Channel in overcrowded boats.
“Today several people died trying to cross the English Channel,” Bruno Retailleau said. “A child was trampled to death in a small boat.”
Retailleau said the “tragedy” again highlighted the need to crack down on people smuggling groups organizing the dangerous crossings.
“The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organizing these crossings of death,” he wrote.
That sounds decent, but I get the distinct vibe accepting more migrants isn’t usually part of the plan. Most of the time when boat deaths are brought up, it’s a way of making something intrinsically mean seem humanitarian. They don’t actually give a shit about drownings, and definitely don’t give a shit if they die of despair back where they came from.
That’s definitely the case for some, depends what kind of politician they are.
Politicians just say what people want to hear.
Anti-migrant sentiment is common in Europe now, and it’s the whole reason boat deaths were made an issue (as opposed to any number of other things with a greater humanitarian impact).