Small‑boat arrivals as legitimacy crisis

When failures to stop or transparently explain small‑boat crossings produce visible unrest in port towns, they become a focal narrative that delegitimizes national institutions and fuels populist politics. The effect is not just an immigration policy problem but a political signal that the state cannot protect borders or be trusted with information. — If true, this framing escalates immigration from a narrow policy quarrel into a systemic challenge to democratic legitimacy and party coalitions.