European Union policies have transformed the Central Mediterranean into a mass grave, with over 28,000 migrants dying in the past decade while Brussels continues funding the very mechanisms that make illegal crossings more deadly rather than stopping them at the source.
EU’s Failed Deterrence Strategy Increases Death Toll
The Central Mediterranean route connecting North Africa to Italy has claimed over 28,000 lives in ten years, yet European Union border policies continue prioritizing deterrence over protection. Rather than establishing safe legal pathways or addressing root causes in conflict zones, Brussels funds North African coast guards to intercept migrants and return them to countries where abuse is systematic. This approach fundamentally misunderstands human desperation—people fleeing violence and repression will attempt the crossing regardless of danger, meaning EU policies don’t prevent migration but simply make it more lethal. The evidence is clear: despite 75,000 interceptions by Tunisia alone in 2023, crossings increased 55 percent compared to 2022.
Since 2014, 35,021 people have died or disappeared while trying to migrate to Europe.
Almost 2/3 of them lost their lives in the Central Mediterranean route. pic.twitter.com/YwjRpWBwWi
— Xavi Ruiz (@xruiztru) March 30, 2024
Taxpayer Dollars Fund Migrant Abuse Networks
European taxpayers unknowingly finance a brutal system where their funds train and equip coast guards who deliver migrants to torture. The Libyan Coast Guard, trained and funded by the EU, uses Italian-donated vessels to intercept overcrowded boats and return approximately 85 passengers at a time to detention facilities operated by militias. Inside these centers, migrants face extortion, rape, forced labor, and systematic abuse documented by multiple international organizations. Tunisia intercepted over 75,000 people in 2023 using resources and training from European nations. This outsourcing of border enforcement allows EU officials to claim they’re addressing illegal immigration while actually creating a humanitarian catastrophe that violates the very principles of asylum protection established after World War II.
Rescue Operations Expose Policy Failures
Humanitarian organizations conducting search and rescue operations reveal the true cost of EU deterrence policies through their documentation of preventable deaths. In January 2024, rescue ships saved over 500 people in separate operations, including 27 unaccompanied minors and pregnant women packed into unseaworthy wooden boats. These rescues occur despite reduced official search and rescue capacity, meaning many boats disappear without trace. One January incident involved 40 people on a wooden vessel that vanished despite Frontex and Italian coastguard awareness—the boat was never found. Organizations like Sea-Watch International, Open Arms, and SOS Humanity fill the gap left by retreating government rescue operations, proving that the crisis stems from policy choices rather than inevitable geography or uncontrollable migration flows.
The Real Crisis Is Manufactured by Failed Policies
The fundamental problem isn’t migration itself but catastrophically misguided European policies that reject sovereignty-protecting solutions in favor of globalist half-measures. Instead of securing borders through proper enforcement at the source, stopping human trafficking networks, and working with stable governments to address conflicts driving migration, the EU creates an expensive, deadly charade. Deterrence policies don’t work because they don’t address why people flee—ongoing conflicts, disasters, and repression in origin countries. Yet rather than acknowledge this failure, European institutions double down, reducing transparency by cutting rescue operations so fewer deaths get recorded. American conservatives watching this disaster unfold should recognize the warning signs: when governments prioritize optics over effectiveness and outsource problems rather than solving them, the result is neither border security nor humanitarian protection—just endless crisis and mounting body counts that serve political narratives rather than citizens’ interests.
Sources:
Mediterranean Tragedy: The Deadly Path to Europe’s Shores – Think Global Health
Security Council Press Statement on Mediterranean Migration – United Nations
The Deadliest Migration Route – Princeton Journal of Public and International Affairs