migrants around Calais

File:Calais2015m.jpg a ball at the camp during October 2015]]

The migrant population around Calais has changed as global crises have changed. In the late 1990s, for instance, most people had travelled to the area to escape conflict in the Balkans. Nearly two decades later Kurdish Iraqis were the largest group,{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/de/nothelfer-bauen-lager-in-frankreich/a-19054441|title=Nothelfer bauen Lager in Frankreich – Europa – DW.COM – 18.02.2016|first=Deutsche Welle|last=(www.dw.com)|website=Deutsche Welle}} but by 2014 many people had begun to arrive from the Horn of Africa and Sudan.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29551012 Calais 'Jungle': Migrants hit dead end in journey to UK] Fergal Keane, BBC News, 9 October 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2015. Many of the Kurdish Iraqis later moved to similar camps near Calais and Dunkirk.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/07/calais-french-migrant-camps-refugee-crisis|title=The most shocking thing about Calais is that it's not even too big to solve|date=7 January 2016|work=The Guardian}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/08/france-refugees-avoid-jungle-150826082244714.html|title=France: Where refugees go to avoid 'the jungle'|publisher=Al Jazeera}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nzz.ch/international/europa/elend-zur-abschreckung-1.18695924|title=Neuer Migranten-Dschungel: Elend zur Abschreckung|last=Tzermias|first=Nikos|date=16 February 2016|language=de|work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/ausland/kein-slum-das-fluechtlingslager-ist-eine-offene-muellhalde-130081251|title=Kein Slum, das Flüchtlingslager ist eine offene Müllhalde|work=Aargauer Zeitung|language=de|trans-title=Not a slum, the refugee camp is an open landfill|access-date=24 October 2015|archive-date=6 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206181731/http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/ausland/kein-slum-das-fluechtlingslager-ist-eine-offene-muellhalde-130081251|url-status=dead}}

Prior to the eviction of the large Jungle camp, a July 2016 survey of the population of the Calais Jungle by Help Refugees counted 7,307 migrants (of which 761 were minors): the largest number to date. At that time, the population was increasing by an average of 50 people per day.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/migrant-crisis-record-7300-people-now-live-calais-jungle-migrant-camp-1571819|title=Migrant crisis: A record 7,300 people now live in Calais' Jungle migrant camp|last=Buchanan|first=Elsa|date=21 July 2016|access-date=24 October 2016}} After the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, the population had reportedly increased to nearly 10,000.{{cite news|title=Calais capers: Threats to move Britain's border back from Calais to Dover are mostly empty|url=https://www.economist.com/news/britain/21706342-threats-move-britains-border-back-calais-dover-are-mostly-empty-calais-capers|access-date=3 September 2016|newspaper=The Economist|date=3 September 2016}} An estimated 62% of the migrants were young men; the migrants' average age was 33.{{cite web|url=http://www.nordeclair.fr/france-monde/acces-aux-soins-medecins-du-monde-alerte-sur-la-jna0b0n897938|title=Accès aux soins: Médecins du Monde alerte sur la situation des migrants|last=www.nordeclair.fr|access-date=21 June 2017|archive-date=19 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119085834/http://www.nordeclair.fr/france-monde/acces-aux-soins-medecins-du-monde-alerte-sur-la-jna0b0n897938|url-status=dead}} Most of them do not speak French.{{cite news|url=http://lamayenneonadore.fr/main/2015/10/19/calais-la-jungle-une-medecin-mayennaise-temoigne/|title=Calais, la jungle, une médecin mayennaise témoigne|date=19 October 2015|publisher=La Mayenne, on adore !|trans-title=Calais, the jungle, a Mayennais doctor bears witness|access-date=24 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020024652/http://lamayenneonadore.fr/main/2015/10/19/calais-la-jungle-une-medecin-mayennaise-temoigne/|archive-date=2015-10-20|url-status=dead}}

Calais is the closest geographical point to the UK in mainland Europe. It is a significant trade hub, with millions of tons of goods passing through each day, to and from Great Britain, by truck, train, and ship. This increases the potential for migrants to stow away on vehicles passing through, as well as the economic costs of the disruption that they cause. Migrants in the area who want to reach the UK do so for a number of reasons. For instance, some prefer the UK to other European countries due to greater economic growth (thus making them economic migrants), and the relative ease of finding illegal undocumented work,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8129812.stm Migrant squalor in Calais 'jungle'.] Emma-Jane Kirby, BBC News, 2 July 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2015.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/03/calais-mayor-threatens-block-port-uk-fails-help-migrants Calais mayor threatens to block port if UK fails to help deal with migrants.] Natacha Bouchart, The Guardian, 3 September 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2015. the latter being due to the application of habeas corpus preventing the checking of migrants' identification in some situations.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/06/at-night-its-like-a-horror-movie-inside-calaiss-official-shanty-town 'At night it's like a horror movie' – inside Calais's official shantytown.] Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, 6 April 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.Aribaud and Vignon, '[https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/fr/content/download/85770/663961/file/15077-14098-01%20-%20Situations%20Migrants%20Calaisis.pdf Rapport à monsieur le ministre de l'intérieur sur la situation des migrants dans le Calaisis]' (2015). Ministère de l'intérieur The UK is also a desirable destination because English is a widely known language, and because it is easier to reach than other English speaking destinations such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Still others have a family connection with the UK.Bowden, '[https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-do-calais-migrants-want-to-come-to-britain-and-why-dont-refugees-stay-in-france_uk_580e0fade4b0fce107d15dfa Why Do Calais Migrants Want To Come To Britain? And Why Don't Refugees Stay In France?]' (24/10/16) in HuffPost Some migrants in the area have paid smugglers - sometimes thousands of pounds - to help them on their journey and/or to help them attempt to reach the UK. Migrants risk their lives when they try to climb aboard or travel on vehicles, occasionally falling off and injuring themselves or dying.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/23/15-migrants-trying-enter-uk-die-shameful-calais-conditions|title=At least 15 migrants died in 'shameful' Calais conditions in 2014|date=23 December 2014|last2=Grandjean|first2=Guy|newspaper=The Guardian|last1=Taylor|first1=Matthew|access-date=2 July 2015}} Not every migrant in Calais is trying to get to the UK, however: some are seeking asylum in France but are homeless because the French system does not provide for them while their claim is being processed.Francesca Ansaloni, 'Deterritorialising the Jungle: Understanding the Calais camp through its orderings' in Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space (25/02/20) doi.org/10.1177/2399654420908597

Apart from the camp in Sangatte (closed 2002) and the one in Grande-Synthe during the mayoral administration of Damien Carême, the camps are informal and have appeared in various locations along the northern coast since the 1990s. Since the demolition of the large Jungle camp in 2016 there has been an administrative policy of "no fixation points" for migrants to settle in, aiming to stop another large camp from forming.France 24, '[https://www.france24.com/fr/20170623-visite-calais-collomb-affiche-fermete-migrants-jungle-ministre Calais : Collomb ne veut pas de "point de fixation" pour les migrants]' (23/06/17) Police, including the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS), and clearance teams regularly evict migrants from their makeshift camps, but new encampments later form there or elsewhere.I. Bourke, '[https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/welfare/2017/12/matter-political-will-there-s-no-end-sight-refugee-crisis-calais "A matter of political will": There's no end in sight for the refugee crisis in Calais]' (16/12/17) in New StatesmanM. Bulman, '[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugees-calais-channel-crossing-dunkirk-camps-boats-migrants-a8661061.html The lost childhoods on Britain's doorstep: How growing number of families are waiting in tents to attempt dangerous Channel crossing]' (01/12/18) on The IndependentM. Bulman, '[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/calais-migrants-refugees-camps-eviction-channel-crossings-france-asylum-home-office-a9100921.html Calais camp evictions fuelling rise in Channel crossings as situation reaches tipping point, say charities]' (11/09/19) in The IndependentJenowein, Whitaker, Lindner, [https://helprefugees.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Forced-Evictions-in-Calais-and-Grande-Synthe-ENG-1.pdf Forced Evictions in Calais and Grande-Synthe: 1 August 2018-1 June 2019] (2019). Human Rights Observers The encampments are dangerous due to exposure and poor living conditions resulting in health difficulties.Dhesi, Isakjee, Davies, [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-les/gees/research/calais-report-oct-2015.pdf An Environmental Health Assessment of the New Migrant Camp in Calais] (2015). University of BirminghamBouhenia et al., '[https://web.archive.org/web/20190226110159/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7054/d978eb40233ef23b4114bd1b0d8c6ae0fb1f.pdf Quantitative survey on health and violence endured by refugees during their journey and in Calais, France]' in Int. Health (2017)Dhesi, Isakjee, Davies, '[http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/88961/1/WRAP-public-health-calais-refugee-camp-Davies-2017.pdf Public health in the Calais refugee camp: environment, health and exclusion]' in Critical Public Health (2017)A. Rawsome, '[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/26/periods-to-pregnancy-sexual-health-crisis-calais-refugees-volunteers-gynaecology-without-borders From periods to pregnancy – the sexual health crisis for Calais refugees]' (26/02/18) in The Guardian Authorities create a hostile environment;Edmond-Pettitt, '[http://www.egpress.org/file/139/download?token=WVPRSACY Territorial Policing and the 'hostile environment' in Calais: from policy to practice]' (2018) in Justice, Power and Resistance migrants and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) report police violence directed at migrantsA. Mohdin, '[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/18/migrants-in-calais-suffering-from-random-police-raids Calais clamps down as asylum seekers say: 'They just beat us']' (18/09/19) in The GuardianGarcia Bochenek, [https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/france0717_web_3.pdf "Like Living in Hell": Police Abuses Against Child and Adult Migrants in Calais] (2017). Human Rights WatchE. Vigny, [https://helprefugees.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Police-Harrassment-of-Volunteers-in-Calais-1.pdf Calais: the police harassment of volunteers] (2018). L'Auberge des Migrants and the local administration occasionally bans the distribution of food and water.Amelia Gentleman, '[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/02/calais-mayor-bans-distribution-of-food-to-migrants Calais mayor bans distribution of food to migrants]' (02/03/17) in The GuardianP. Charrier, '[https://www.la-croix.com/France/Immigration/A-Calais-associations-denoncent-arrete-municipal-stigmatisant-envers-migrants-2019-11-01-1201057953 À Calais, des associations dénoncent un arrêté municipal « stigmatisant » envers les migrants]' (01/11/19) in La Croix

The laws for processing of migrants and management of the situation are set by bilateral agreements between the UK and France relating to the Channel Tunnel. Bilateral agreements include the 1991 Sangatte Protocol regarding border controls in Coquelles and Folkestone, which was later supplemented by the 2003 Touquet Treaty, which increased the powers of the police at the border, and defines the obligations of the UK and France to accept refugees.

When the French justice system determines that a person is in France illegally, an {{ill|obligation de quitter le territoire français|fr}} (OQTF) - an order to leave France or be deported to a country of origin - can be issued. This is defined in the Code of Entry and Residence of Foreigners and of the Right to Asylum).

However, many of the camps' inhabitants lack identification and even a legal identity in their countries of origin, as is the case with many people of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Sudanese nationality. For a person in this situation, an OQTF cannot be issued, either because it is unclear to what country the person should be deported, or because neither their countries of origin nor other countries in the Schengen Area will accept them.

File:Calais-jungle-fence VOA photo.jpg

Britain and France operate a system of juxtaposed controls on immigration and customs, whereby border checks take place prior to boarding, so once stowaways are in a vehicle in the tunnel, they are able to enter the UK without further checks.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurotunnelfreight.com/uk/safety-and-security/controls/|title=Safety and security controls|publisher=EuroTunnelFreight.com|access-date=23 June 2017}} To discourage vehicle operators from facilitating this, lorry drivers are fined £2,000 per stowaway, if a migrant is discovered in their vehicle.

On 20 August 2015, Theresa May, who was then UK Home Secretary, arrived in Calais with Bernard Cazeneuve, the French Minister of the Interior, to confirm a new agreement to address the situation. The agreement invested £7 million in new security measures, including basing British police officers in a new control centre in Calais that regularly reported to May and Cazeneuve regarding immigration-related criminal activities on both sides of the Channel.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/20/british-police-deploy-calais-migrant-smuggling-gangs-theresa-may | title=Calais crisis: British police to be deployed to target people-smuggling | work=The Guardian | date=20 August 2015 | access-date=21 August 2015 | author=Khomami, Nadia}} The port of Calais is protected by 5-meter tall fences topped with coils of razor wire and surveillance cameras. Additional fencing is being constructed along the motorway leading to the port. The UK is investing £3 million in heartbeat and carbon dioxide detectors, and dog searches, for UK-bound lorries in France.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33267137|title=Calais migrants: How is the UK-France border policed?|date=3 March 2016|work=BBC News|access-date=23 June 2017}}

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, has called for the situation to be addressed through more security at the periphery of the European Union to prevent people from entering the EU irregularly.{{cite news|title=Migrants Stream Back to 'Jungle'|last=Bisserbe|first=Neomie|date=23 June 2017|page=A8|work=The Wall Street Journal}}

In August 2015, Vincent Cochetel, the director for Europe at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, described the crisis as a "civil emergency". Later that month, Yvette Cooper, the UK Shadow Home Secretary, said that the United Nations had to intervene in the crisis in order to stop the French government from allowing people to try to enter the UK illegally,{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/10/yvette-cooper-calls-un-intervention-escalating-calais-migrant-crisis | title=Yvette Cooper calls for UN intervention over escalating Calais migrant crisis | work=The Guardian | date=10 August 2015 | access-date=21 August 2015 | author=Mason, Rowena}} and on 20 August, Theresa May, then the UK Home Secretary, expressed concern that the crisis could spread to other ports, such as Dunkirk.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34007530 | title=Calais migrant crisis 'could shift to other ports' |work=BBC News| date=20 August 2015 | access-date=21 August 2015}}

In 2015, Nigel Farage, at the time leader of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), called for the military to search incoming vehicles to address a "lawless, scary" situation.

Members of the publicGerbier-Aublanc, '[https://www.fondation-croix-rouge.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/frupcrf_pdlf15_gerbier-aublanc_mai2018_eng.pdf Humanitarian improvisation: potential and limitations of citizen solidarity in the migrant camps in Calais and Paris]' (2018). French Red Cross Foundation and grassroots organisationsMcGee, Pelham, 'Politics at Play: Locating Human Rights, Refugees and Grassroots Humanitarianism in the Calais Jungle' (2018). Leisure Studies have supported migrants around Calais. Some Calasians host migrants in their homes or join together to support migrants with food and material aid. People from outside France have also migrated to Calais to support those living rough.Sandri, Volunteer Humanitarianism: volunteers and humanitarian aid in the Jungle refugee camp of Calais (2017). Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies No Borders activists have also supported migrants around Calais.Rigby, Schlembach, Impossible protest: noborders in Calais (2013). Citizenship Studies{{cite news |last1=Crawley |first1=H. |last2=Clochard |first2=O. |title=After the Calais Jungle: is there a long-term solution? Views from France and Britain |url=http://theconversation.com/after-the-calais-jungle-is-there-a-long-term-solution-views-from-france-and-britain-67352 |access-date=16 March 2020 |work=The Conversation}} The number of people who have helped migrants in Calais is in the thousands.Doidge, Sandri, Friends that last a lifetime: the importance of emotions amongst volunteers working with refugees in Calais (2018). British Journal of Sociology

On 5 September 2016, truck drivers, local farmers, and trade unionists, protesting against "wilful destruction" by migrants residing in the camps, slowed traffic entering the port of Calais, demanding the closure of the Jungle.{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/travellers-face-disruption-in-calais-migrant-road-block-protest-10565664|title=French Truckers Block Road in Calais Protest|date=5 September 2016}}

In the late 1990s growing numbers of migrants, including women and children, were sleeping in the streets of Calais and surrounding towns. Most were hoping to enter the UK, either through the Channel Tunnel under, or by the P&O Ferries over the English Channel.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/may/23/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices1 'Sangatte refugee camp']. The Guardian, 23 May 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2015. In 1999, at the request of the French government, the French Red Cross opened a refugee camp in Sangatte in a giant warehouse about {{convert|800|m|mi}} from the entrance to the Channel Tunnel. Sangatte was planned to house 600 people, but by 2002 it held 2,000.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/06/at-night-its-like-a-horror-movie-inside-calaiss-official-shanty-town "At night it's like a horror movie" – inside Calais's official shantytown]. The Guardian, 6 April 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015. living in squalid conditions.

Tensions between ethnic groups in Sangatte for the best places from which to board trains at the Fréthun EuroTunnel rail freight terminal grew, as it was {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Calais. In 2001, EuroTunnel called on France to shut the camp, stating that they were stopping 200 refugees each night, mostly from Sangatte, who aimed to smuggle themselves into Britain. On Christmas Day 2001, a large group of people broke through all security barriers, and 500 of them stormed the Channel Tunnel. By 2002, the Eurotunnel company had spent £6 million (€8 million) on security measures around the {{convert|650|ha|acre|adj=on}} terminal site,{{cite web |url=http://www.eurotunnelgroup.com/uk/the-channel-tunnel/infrastructure/ |title=The Channel Tunnel infrastructure |author= |year=2015 |publisher=Eurotunnel Group |access-date=2 September 2015}} such as fences, razor wire, cameras, and security guards patrolling daily.

On 3 December 2002, the French Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced that the camp at Sangatte would be closed on 30 December 2002. In exchange, the British government would accept 1,000 Kurdish refugees and some 250 Afghans—80% of the migrants in Sangate—who would all receive a work permit for three months.[http://www1.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/036/article_18473.asp 'Sangatte : fermeture anticipée' (S.: advanced closure)]. Radio France Internationale, 3 December 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2015. The remaining people received a residence permit in France.[http://www1.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/036/article_18473.asp 'Sangatte : fermeture anticipée' (S.: advanced closure)]. Radio France Internationale, 3 December 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2015.

Since 2002, migrants in Calais slept in squats, slums and outdoor camps known as "jungles" that were repeatedly raided{{cite web |url=http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=1076 |title=Dawn raid on Calais "Jungle" |publisher=The Connexion – The Newspaper for English-Speakers in France |date=22 September 2009 |access-date=22 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210243/http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=1076 |archive-date=23 September 2015 }} or bulldozed by police before cropping up elsewhere, and they ate from charity soup kitchens. Migrants caught during an attempt to hide aboard a lorry would be taken to the police station, where they would receive a warning and be released. In 2009, the UN Refugee Agency set up a permanent office in Calais to offer asylum advice to migrants.{{cite web |last1=Lescure |first1=Marie-Ange |title=UNHCR returns to Calais to provide migrants, refugees with information |url=https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/latest/2009/6/4a3914c86/unhcr-returns-calais-provide-migrants-refugees-information.html |website=UNHCR UK |access-date=18 March 2020}}

In April 2009, the police raided and bulldozed a camp and arrested 190 migrants. This camp, in the woods around Calais, was reestablished, with tents made out of metal grilles and plastic sheeting{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8129812.stm |work=BBC News| title=Migrant squalor in Calais 'jungle' | date=2 July 2009 | access-date=26 June 2015}} and wooden shelters, housing 700–800 mainly Afghan migrants. It was unsanitary. It was raided again in September 2009, and 276 protesting migrants were arrested and put on buses. Bulldozers were expected to destroy their shelters later that day. The jungle inhabitants were partly imprisoned at the nearby Centre de Rétention of Coquelles; many more were taken to detention centres all over France before being released and making the journey back to Calais by foot. After the closing of this camp, the French authorities threatened to repatriate "sans-papiers" ("immigrés en situation irrégulière") to Afghanistan.{{dead link|date=June 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lexpress.fr/actualites/2/des-afghans-devraient-etre-expulses-mardi-selon-la-cimade_835632.html |title=Des Afghans devraient être expulsés mardi, selon la Cimade |work=L'Express |access-date=6 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227054303/http://www.lexpress.fr/actualites/2/des-afghans-devraient-etre-expulses-mardi-selon-la-cimade_835632.html |archive-date=27 December 2009 }}

In July 2014, the French police once again expelled migrants from a camp in Calais.

By September 2014, some 1,200 to 1,500 migrants,[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/03/calais-mayor-threatens-block-port-uk-fails-help-migrants 'Calais mayor threatens to block port if UK fails to help deal with migrants']. The Guardian, 3 September 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015. mainly Eritreans, Sudanese, Afghans, Somalis and Syrians, lived in makeshift camps or disused buildings[http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/512097/Tear-Gas-Fired-UK-bound-Migrants-Calais-Riots 'Tear gas fired at UK-bound migrants during riots at Calais camp']. Daily Express, 17 September 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2015. in Calais and made regular attempts to hide in lorries bound to cross the Channel to Britain.[http://news.sky.com/story/1329917/calais-migrants-caught-on-video-rushing-ferry 'Calais Migrants Caught On Video Rushing Ferry']. Sky News, 4 September 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.

On 4 September, at the P&O Ferry docks of Calais, 100 migrants forced open a gate, climbed over fences and tried to storm onto a ferry to Britain. One ship's crew used their fire hoses to prevent them from boarding.

Days later, 250 migrants tried to storm into vehicles at a lorry park that were about to cross to the UK; the police scattered them with tear gas.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11092376/Calais-migrants-becoming-more-violent-in-attempts-to-reach-Britain.html 'Calais migrants 'becoming more violent' in attempts to reach Britain']. The Telegraph, 12 September 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2015.

On 17 September 250 migrants, after tearing down fences and cutting wire, rushed lorries queuing to board ferries; police used tear gas and baton charges to chase them away.

After those incidents, the British government promised to contribute up to £12 million (€14 million) to the French to help prevent people from crossing the Channel to Britain illegally.[http://news.sky.com/story/1356854/tear-gas-fired-at-calais-migrants Tear Gas Fired At Calais Migrants]. Sky News, 20 October 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.

By October, the number of migrants at Calais was 1,500. In mid-October, 350 migrants again tried to climb aboard trucks at Calais in an attempt to reach Britain; the riot police (CRS) used tear gas to disperse them.

{{Main|Calais jungle}}

File:Calais refugee camp 2.JPG

In January 2015, the French government opened the Jules Ferry day centre for migrants in a former children's holiday camp on the outskirts of Calais.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11348493/Calais-opens-first-migrant-camp-since-Sangatte-closed.html 'Calais opens first migrant camp since Sangatte closed']. The Telegraph, 15 January 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015. It was intended to provide overnight accommodation for 50 women and children (but not to men),NRC Handelsblad, 20 June 2015. one hot meal per day and daytime showers and toilets (to everyone including men), and mobile phone charging.

By April 2015, over 1,000 men were sleeping rough next to the centre on wasteland and a shanty town emerged that became called "the new jungle" - and later simply the Jungle. Charity workers said that 100 people in the "new jungle" had already claimed asylum in France but still had no accommodation. A camp has also sprung up in Dunkirk, around 40 km from Calais.{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/28/life-in-a-refugee-camp-the-cold-and-fear-get-in-your-bones | date = 28 November 2015 | access-date = 6 February 2016 | first = Suzanne | last = Moore | author-link = Suzanne Moore | work = The Guardian | location = London | title = Life in a refugee camp: 'the cold and fear get in your bones'}} Most of the migrants were Kurdish Iraqis.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/07/calais-french-migrant-camps-refugee-crisis |title=The most shocking thing about Calais is that it's not even too big to solve {{pipe}} Opinion |work=The Guardian |date=27 July 2016 |access-date=24 October 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/08/france-refugees-avoid-jungle-150826082244714.html |title=France: Where refugees go to avoid 'the jungle' |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=31 August 2015 |access-date=24 October 2016}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nzz.ch/international/europa/elend-zur-abschreckung-1.18695924 |title=Neuer Migranten-Dschungel: Elend zur Abschreckung – NZZ International: Europa |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |date=16 February 2016 |access-date=24 October 2016 |last1=Tzermias |first1=Nikos }}{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/de/nothelfer-bauen-lager-in-frankreich/a-19054441 |title=Nothelfer bauen Lager in Frankreich {{pipe}} DW.COM {{pipe}} 18.02.2016 |publisher=DW.COM |access-date=24 October 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/ausland/kein-slum-das-fluechtlingslager-ist-eine-offene-muellhalde-130081251 |title="Kein Slum, das Flüchtlingslager ist eine offene Müllhalde" – Ausland – az Aargauer Zeitung |work=Aargauer Zeitung |date=19 October 2016 |access-date=24 October 2016 |archive-date=6 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206181731/http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/ausland/kein-slum-das-fluechtlingslager-ist-eine-offene-muellhalde-130081251 |url-status=dead }}

In early June 2015, the police dismantled some smaller encampments in Calais. By mid-June, the city council of Calais estimated 3,000 migrants to be living in encampments.Le Monde, 18 June 2015. As of November 2015, there were an estimated 6,000 migrants living in the camp.{{cite news|title=France has less and less influence in the EU, and fears to use what it still has|url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21677987-france-has-less-and-less-influence-eu-and-fears-use-what-it-still-has-dispensable|access-date=9 February 2016|newspaper=The Economist|date=7 November 2015}} According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ten people had died trying to cross the Channel Tunnel since the start of June 2015. As of October 2016, just prior to its dismantling, 'Help Refugees' put the number in the camp at 8,143.

Starting on 24 October 2016, the French government planned to evacuate 6,400 migrants from the encampment in 170 buses with the intent of resettling the migrants in different regions of France.{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/police-justice/article/2016/10/21/jungle-de-calais-le-gouvernement-detaille-l-operation-de-demantelement-qui-debutera-lundi_5018279_1653578.html|title=" Jungle " de Calais : le démantèlement débutera lundi à l'aube|date=21 October 2016|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|language=fr|trans-title=Calais "Jungle": the dismantling will begin Monday at dawn|last1=Baumard|first1=Maryline|access-date=23 October 2016}} On 26 October 2016, French authorities announced that the camp had been cleared of all migrants.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37773848 |title=Calais 'Jungle' cleared of migrants, French prefect says |date=26 October 2016|work=BBC News}}

Since the start of the European migrant crisis, truck drivers heading for the UK have been threatened and attacked by people trying to reach the UK. In December 2015, 13 trucks were hit with stones, with people trying to jump into trucks from motorway overpasses.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-34997719|title='Desperate migrants' in Calais smash lorry windscreens|work=BBC News|date=3 December 2015|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=19 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619144749/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-34997719|url-status=dead}} In March 2016, a truck driver was assaulted, sustaining minor injuries, while his truck was also damaged.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/it-was-petrifying-lorry-driver-attacked-near-calais-feared-for-his-life|title='It was petrifying': lorry driver attacked near Calais feared for his life|website=TheGuardian.com|date=3 March 2016}} In August 2016, a driver was threatened with a chainsaw by those wishing to board trucks to the UK.{{cite web|url=http://www.logisticsmanager.com/calais-chainsaw-threat-prompts-fta-call-for-action/|title=Calais chainsaw threat prompts FTA call for action|date=3 August 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kentnews.co.uk/business/freight_chiefs_fear_more_violence_after_truck_driver_threatened_with_chainsaw_in_calais_1_4643009|title=Freight chiefs fear more violence after truck driver threatened with chainsaw in Calais|access-date=16 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817014547/http://www.kentnews.co.uk/business/freight_chiefs_fear_more_violence_after_truck_driver_threatened_with_chainsaw_in_calais_1_4643009|archive-date=17 August 2016|url-status=dead}} Truck drivers have also violently confronted people found stowed away in their trucks, and one Hungarian truck driver filmed how he directed his truck towards a group of people that hurled rocks at his truck, only to swerve away from them as part of an intimidation tactic.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/30/lorry-drivers-refugees-calais-warn-escalating-violence|title=Lorry drivers warn of escalating violence with refugees in Calais|website=TheGuardian.com|date=30 November 2015}}

The first death was recorded on 20 June 2017, when people trying to reach the UK stopped a lorry on the A16 autoroute with a tree trunk, in order to stowaway in the cargo area.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/20/van-driver-dies-migrants-block-calais-road-tree-trunks/|title=Van driver killed in fireball crash after migrants block Calais road with tree trunks|author=Henry Samuel|date= 20 June 2017|work=The Telegraph|access-date= 20 June 2017}} A van registered in Poland hit the lorry and burst into fire, killing the van driver.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-calais-death/migrants-held-in-france-after-driver-killed-at-calais-roadblock-idUSKBN19B0UU|title=Migrants held in France after driver killed at Calais roadblock|date= 20 June 2017|publisher=Reuters|access-date= 20 June 2017}} Nine people from Eritrea were arrested in connection with the incident.

In July 2017 a lorry driver was repeatedly beaten over the head with a brick after stepping out of the cab to confront a group of migrants attempting to stow away in his trailer. After leaving the driver bloodied and unconscious on the side of the road, the migrants hijacked the lorry and attempted to drive it towards the port before being apprehended several miles away.{{Cite web|url=http://truckanddriver.co.uk/latest-news/call-extra-security-calais-truck-hijack-incident/|title=Call for extra security at Calais after truck hijack incident – Truckanddriver.co.uk|website=truckanddriver.co.uk|date=25 July 2017 |access-date=29 July 2017}}

The Calais blockade was a 2016 protest in France in response to the Calais Jungle. Lorry drivers and farmers used their vehicles on the A16 motorway to slow down entry to the Port of Calais. The camp had become the focal point of France's migrant crisis, with about 7,000 people, mainly from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa, living there.

The protest also attracted a number of local trade unions and Calais protestors.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37271674 | title=Calais blockade: Protest targets migrant Jungle camp | publisher=BBC | date=5 September 2016 | access-date=5 September 2016}} The protest calls for the closure and removal of the camp.{{cite news | url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b183fd2-7346-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a.html | title=Protesters set up Calais blockade to demand migrant camp closure | newspaper=Financial Times | date=5 September 2016 | access-date=5 September 2016| last1=Stothard | first1=Michael }} The president of the Association of Calais Traders said "We will not budge from the motorway until the state gives us the dates for the total demolition of the northern zone of the Jungle."{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/04/calais-migrants-urged-to-stay-in-jungle-during-port-blockade/ | title=Lorry drivers begin blocking roads amid anger over violent tactics of migrants trying to reach UK | work=The Telegraph | date=5 September 2016 | access-date=5 September 2016}}

This protest marks the first time the Association of Calais Traders has taken a physical approach to protesting the migrant camp.{{cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/we-ll-block-ports-until-they-agree-to-tear-down-jungle-hauliers-vow-8gh8qbxgc | title=We'll block ports until they agree to tear down Jungle, hauliers vow | newspaper=The Times | date=30 August 2016 | access-date=5 September 2016}}

Since the demolition of the large Jungle camp in 2016 there has been an administrative policy of "no fixation points" for migrants to settle in, aiming to stop another large camp from forming. Police, including the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS), and clearance teams regularly evict migrants from their makeshift camps with new encampments later forming in another or the same location. The encampments are dangerous due to exposure and poor living conditions resulting in health difficulties. A hostile environment is created for the migrants, with migrants and NGOs reporting violence from the police directed at migrants and the local administration occasionally banning the distribution of food and water to migrants.

On 1 February 2018, fighting broke out between a group of Afghan and Eritrean migrants in the French port city of Calais. The fighting left five people with gunshot wounds and another 17 with other injuries, including stab wounds.{{cite news|title=Calais migrants: Five shot in mass brawl|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42912670|access-date=2 February 2018|date=2 February 2018|language=en-GB}} Local officials and police believed that a 37-year-old Afghan man was responsible for the shootings. Several separate incidents occurred during the afternoon of that day following unrest between the two groups at a food distribution point. The incidents unfolded individually at the city outskirts,{{cite news|title=Five migrants shot and wounded in huge Calais brawl|url=http://www.france24.com/en/20180201-four-migrants-shot-wounded-huge-calais-brawl-france|access-date=2 February 2018|work=NEWS WIRES|date=2 February 2018|language=en}} an industrial site{{cite news|title=Four migrants shot in Calais as police break up fight after meal distribution|url=https://news.sky.com/story/four-migrants-shot-in-calais-as-police-break-up-fight-after-meal-distribution-11232513|access-date=2 February 2018|date=2 February 2018|language=en-GB}} and near the location of the old Jungle camp.

Other smaller migrant sites exist in France outside Calais. The Association Terre d'Errance estimates that eleven camps exist in the northern part of the country.Philip Kleinfeld (31 August 2015) [http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/08/france-refugees-avoid-jungle-150826082244714.html France: Where refugees go to avoid 'the jungle'], Al Jazeera. The largest of these is the Grande-Synthe site near Dunkirk. On that site, in the first and older camp of Basroch refugee camp, migrants (mostly Iraqi Kurdish families) lived under deplorable conditions on a boggy wasteland site, without adequate sanitation facilities or shelter. The camp was cited as being worse than Calais.Yvette Cooper, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/07/calais-french-migrant-camps-refugee-crisis The most shocking thing about Calais is that it's not even too big to solve], The Guardian (7 January 2016).Henry Samuel, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12186407/Frances-first-ever-internationally-recognised-refugee-camp-opens-near-Dunkirk.html France's first ever internationally recognised refugee camp opens near Dunkirk], The Daily Telegraph (7 March 2016). In March 2016, as demolition work was taking place at the Jungle site in Calais, a new camp called La Liniere refugee camp was developed at the Grande-Synthe site - "France's first ever refugee camp to meet international humanitarian standards." It opened with 200 of 375 projected cabins already built by Medecins Sans Frontieres. A total capacity of 2,500 people was expected. Traffickers sexually abused migrants, both women and children, by raping them in exchange for blankets, food or opportunity to get to the UK.{{cite news|title=Women and children 'endure rape, beatings and abuse' inside Dunkirk's refugee camp|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/12/dunkirk-child-refugees-risk-sexual-violence|access-date=14 February 2017|work=The Guardian|date=12 February 2017}}

Other than Calais and Grande-Synthe, encampments were reported to exist in 2015 in Paris, Dieppe, Boulogne and Le Havre.

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• Channel Tunnel, § Asylum and immigration
• Asylum shopping
• Modern immigration to the United Kingdom
• Illegal immigration in the United Kingdom
• La Liniere refugee camp
• Basroch refugee camp
• Calais Jungle
• France–UK border

{{reflist}}

• [https://franceukborder.org/ France-UK Border Research]: A library of research and primary sources regarding the situation for displaced people at the France-UK border

{{European migrant crisis}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calais migrant crisis (1999-present)}}

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