Early this week, 54 people were rescued and 14 died when two boats sank off the coast of Tunisia. According to the National Guard, the migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa. On February 21, the Tunisian President Kais Saied said that migration from sub-Saharan Africa aimed to change Tunisia’s national identity and the National Party has led a campaign calling for the expulsion of immigrants to initiate demographic change in the country. These remarks have been condemned by advocacy groups describing them as a racist backlash.