This week Lacuna showcases two articles which explore different aspects of the migration crisis and tragic deaths at sea in the Mediterranean.

Dallal Stevens is an academic in the Law School at Warwick University who has been researching and writing about immigration and asylum issues for more than 20 years. In 'Why Europe must do more for refugees' she explains why the European Union’s response to the refugee crisis in Southern Europe is inadequate. Instead of focusing solely on border control and deterrence, leaders must develop a longer term and more humane response.

Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi was recently shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Journalism for her work reporting on Britain’s most vulnerable communities, including asylum seekers and refugees. In 'What it means when we call people illegal' she argues that we can learn from US asylum and immigration debates where there is a serious challenge to the idea that people can be illegal. That same challenge is urgently needed now in the UK.