My social media feeds are filled with dead children. Small bodies, washing up on the shores of a Mediterranean beach.

Why are they washing up on the shores? European governments want us to blame traffickers. The advantage of blaming traffickers is that it actually licenses those governments to implement even more repressive measures. But traffickers are only out to make a quick buck off the system that European governments have created.

It is incredibly difficult to get into “Fortress Europe” as a refugee. Apart from all the legal obstacles, according to the European Council of Refugees and Exiles, even refugees face a policy of “illegal pushback,” wherein Greek government forces illegitimately use violence and threats to prevent those seeking asylum — many coming from Syria via Turkey — from entering the European Union.