March 3rd saw 327 migrants crossing the English channel and landing in Dover, England, making it the second highest daily total of the year. The highest figure was 358, arriving on January 17th.

That same Sunday, a seven-year-old girl drowned off the French coast when the boat she was in capsized near Dunkirk. Her parents and three more of their children, as well as another couple, two young men, and six children were also on the boat, and taken to a nearby hospital.

This is, unfortunately, becoming a more common trend. In 2024, 2,582 migrants have made the journey across the English channel. It is a particularly dangerous crossing, as the smaller boats used are more prone to capsizing, especially because they are overcrowded. Once capsized, the freezing water and rough currents make it difficult to survive.

This is a part of migrant smuggling, where human smuggling networks have controlled the narrow route, providing boats and transportation, while migrants risk their lives attempting to cross. Smugglers maximize profits by fitting as many people as possible into the boats, which are often not equipped with enough resources to survive the difficult trek.

The current UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, is attempting to tackle the growing immigration issue in Britain with new plans. He proposed a plan dubbed the “Rwanda Bill”, which allows the government to send asylum seekers who arrived without permission in Britain to Rwanda. There has been political infighting regarding this bill, with the Supreme Court outright rejecting the plan in November. However, the Tories are still pushing the plan as part of their “stop the boats” strategy. Sunak’s government is claiming that the plan would serve as a deterrent to those travelling the English channel in small boats, but refugee charity organizations have rejected this claim.

According to figures from London’s Interior Ministry, the majority of arrivals are coming from Iran, Turkey, Eritrea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Iran has been under the control of a theocratic dictatorship since 1979, with human rights violations being commonplace. Eritrea, sometimes referred to “Africa’s North Korea”, is a totalitarian government with mandatory conscription and human rights abuses.

Ultimately, Sunak’s government is attempting to solve the current issue of rising migrants crossing the English channel by deterrence with the possibility of being sent to Rwanda, despite vocal opposition. Rather than punishing those that make a profit off of this dangerous business, it punishes the ones risking their lives in hopes of finding a safer place to live.