 14 migrants died of the Tunisian coast after their boats drowned in two separate incidents on March 7 and 8. Tunisian officials claimed that they were able to rescue at least 54 others who were onboard the two boats. As per reports, the boats sank hours after leaving Tunisian cities Fakirs. Most of those onboard were from sub-Saharan African countries and were headed to Italy in an attempt to migrate to Europe. Tunisia has long been a transit point for migrants seeking a better life in Europe. But ever since President Kaisaid made a racist speech against immigrants last month, things have worsened for migrants. He accused migrants from sub-Saharan Africa of trying to change the country's demographics. The Tunisian coast guard had detained at least 435 undocumented migrants on 8 March, of whom 426 were from sub-Saharan African countries. They also claimed to have thwarted 14 illegal border crossing attempts. However, migrant aid organizations claimed that Tunisian officials forcefully removed the engines of at least seven boat-scanning migrants and let them float in the sea for hours. Alarm Phone tweeted pictures of some ships stranded at sea along with the comments of some of the occupants alleging racism by Tunisian authorities. Alarm Phone is an organization that provides support to those attempting to cross the Mediterranean to the European Union. Strict border control policies followed by European countries have led to migrants being stranded at sea for days, many even losing their lives in the process. According to the International Organization for Migration, since 2014 more than 26,000 people have either died or are missing in the Mediterranean region after trying to migrate to Europe. Around 21,000 people of sub-Saharan origin are documented to be in Tunisia, mostly students or workers, doing physical labour, some waiting to cross the sea to Europe. Ever since February 21st, when President Kaysi gave that infamous speech blaming the migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, coming to Tunisia with the larger objective of changing the demographic profile of the country, making it more African than Arab, indulging in criminal activities and so on and so forth, there have been reports of increase in violence against them, racial hatred, racial profiling against them, which has led to a large number of them losing their jobs and leaving the country altogether. But most of the migrants from sub-Saharan African countries come to Tunisia because they want to escape the bad economic condition in their own countries and hence they cannot afford to go back to their countries and some of them are trying to move to European countries through the Mediterranean Sea. And given the fact that the European countries do not welcome migrants, they have basically very strict border control policies. So a large number of them most of the time are stranded in the sea. So Tunisian, this death of 14 migrants which have been reported is primarily because of the fact that a section of the African, sub-Saharan African migrants were trying to move to Europe given the hostilities in Tunisia, but they were unable to reach Europe and therefore their small boats, two of them basically sank. And there were also reports on social media and other platforms which basically indicate that the Tunisian coast guards have basically used disproportional force and various kinds of oppressive policies against the migrants which are led to inhuman suffering for the large number of migrants.