If migrants are willing to take such risks, it's because they have no choice.
This argument is used in the debates Does being on the left necessarily mean being in favor of mass immigration? and Should we accept immigration?.
This argument is a justification of We can't stop immigration.
Summary
Quotes
“Whether fleeing for political or economic reasons, most migrants who manage to reach Europe have a long journey behind them. If they are willing to take so many risks, it's because they have no choice. They are driven by the same economic necessities, the same determination to support their families at all costs, as the generations that preceded them: the 60 million emigrants who left Ireland, Sweden or Germany in the 19th century to come to America, or those who left Italy, Portugal, Poland or North Africa to come to France in the 20th century. When they weren't fleeing religious persecution, the migrants who built America, those who enriched British, then French and German capitalists by digging their mines, wearing themselves out in their blast furnaces, were peasants starving on land too small, craftsmen ruined by industrial competition.”
