Half Of Calais Migrants ‘Want To Stay In France’
France is facing a new immigration headache as migrants set up home in the infamous Calais ‘jungle’ camp with no intention of moving.
Charities say that around half of all migrants in the makeshift camp now have no intention of travelling to the UK but instead want to stay in France.
The trend undermines calls by French politicians such as former president Nicolas Sarkozy for Britain to pick up the tab for the running of the camp and even move border guards across the Channel.
Mr Sarkozy wants to force Britain to set up camps in the UK to deal with migrants if he returns to the Elysee next year, however his calls are based on the premise the migrants want to move on the Britain.
François Guennoc of the charity Auberge des Migrants toldThe Times there were three reasons for the change. First, there are fewer migrants from countries such as Afghanistan which have historical ties to Britain. Second, Britain’s border security is working, thus making it much harder to travel into the UK.
Finally, a crackdown on migrants sleeping rough in French cities meant the ‘jungle’ was a preferable place to be.
French newspaper Le Monde also reported there had been a “change in the function of the camp which is no longer the antechamber for Great Britain but a waiting place for migrants, the majority of whom want to stay in France”.
One migrant, Yagoub El Zaky, said that he wanted to make the Calais camp a permanent home.
“I left my country because it is dangerous,” he said. “I am a refugee and I want security. Italy is no good. In Italy, the police beat us with sticks. But in France I feel protected. When I reached France, I wanted to stay. Life is difficult here but in Sudan there are many more problems.
“We get food [in the Jungle] and if you want education, you can study different languages, like French, English or Italian. Here they welcome us.”
Breitbart London reported last week on how the British government has pledged to build a wall at Calais to keep migrants from trying to cross into the UK.
Those migrants who still want to come to Britain have been blamed for a spate of attacks on cars and lorries waiting to enter the port of Calais or the Eurostar terminal.