France tells Britain: Let in all migrants
FRANCE last night admitted it was fighting a losing battle against illegal migrants – and demanded Britain should open its doors to them.
A week after being forced from their shanty town, the asylum seekers were back, still seeking a passage to the UK.
Last night Calais mayor Natacha Bouchard said the Channel port would remain an immigrant dumping ground until Britain opened its borders and stopped asking France to do its dirty work.
She insisted that the British should sign up to the Schengen Agreement, a European Union accord that allows free movement of all people between European member states without the need for passports or visas.
“Calais has become a no-go area, and that’s because we have become hostages of the British Government,” said Ms Bouchard.
“Britain is unable to control its borders, so we’re doing the job for them because they’re not part of the agreement. There are still some 20 squatter camps in Calais alone.
“Britain has no right to put pressure on us. Every politician should keep repeating this.
“The more they say it, the more they’ll be throwing light on the problem which has been imposed on us.”
The French government is fast running out of patience with the crisis and claims it is powerless to stop the thousands of migrants who make their way to Calais seeking a new life in Britain.
It complains that until Britain agrees to open its borders, there is no reason for migrants to abandon their nightly cat-and-mouse games with police as they try to board lorries and trains bound for Dover.
Calais MP Jack Lang said: “The migrants make it to Britain whatever the obstacles. Police operations will do nothing to stop them.”
Last night critics claimed only a change in Government could secure Britain’s borders.
Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said: “Britain needs a force to control our borders and to crack down on illegal working.
“That’s what a Conservative Government would do to make our borders more secure and to discourage the camps that keep springing up in France.”
Conservative MP Philip Davies added: “We have lost control of our borders and Britain is seen as a soft touch. These people know that once they are here they will never have to leave.
“If we had a robust policy to deal with illegal immigrants they would not be trying to get into the UK in the first place.”
The Government has repeatedly implored the French to improve security around the Calais area, where about 2,000 foreigners sleep rough.
At least 20 new squatter camps have sprung up around the town since the destruction of the notorious Jungle last week.
Other migrants live in makeshift shelters along the coast at Dunkirk.
Yesterday police armed with stun guns and tear gas grenades moved in on a stretch of wasteland dotted with the camps.
The operation was aimed at people smugglers who charge migrants up to £1,000 for an illegal passage to Britain, claimed Pas-de-Calais Prefect Pierre de Bousquet.
He said: “For months, we’ve been hitting the smuggling rings hard and we’re now organising at least one operation a week without making a lot of fuss about it, but with great efficiency.”
But while police keep trying to find new camps, they find keeping migrants out of Calais – Britain’s main transport link to Europe – a never-ending battle.
Over two-thirds of the migrants arrested in The Jungle raid have been released and are back in Calais preparing to cross the Channel.
Hundreds escaped when French immigration minister Eric Besson announced plans for the raid on prime time television.
Abbot Jean-Pierre Boutoille of the refugee charity C’Sur said: “There are hundreds still living rough in Calais and I hear that a group escaped from a detention centre is already marching back.
“The operation to destroy the Jungle camp was a ridiculous media exercise and will achieve nothing.”
Yesterday, three Afghans arrested in last week’s raid told how they had returned to Calais after being taken to the south of France.
“The police took us to Nimes, more than 600 miles from Calais, then let us go,” said one, who said he was called Youssouf. “We have just got back by train. We will never give up our dream to get to Britain.”
Last night a UK Borders Agency spokeswoman said: “UK Border Agency officers are alert to the potential movement of illegal immigrants to other ports and continue to work alongside French and Belgian authorities to secure our controls.
“The closure of the camps in Calais is a clear signal of the UK and French governments’ commitment to close routes into the UK.”
Last night Sir Andrew Green of MigrationWatch UK said: “Britain is perceived as a soft touch. The Government has to ensure that failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are removed.”
Susie Squires of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “It is no secret that our welfare system is so bloated it attracts immigrants from all over the world.”
