Immigrants-camped-Calais-falls-sparks-fears-entered-Britain-illegally

THE NUMBERS of UK-bound immigrants camped in Calais have fallen by 60 per cent amid fears that increasing numbers of them have managed to get into Britain illegally.

Published: 00:01, Tue, March 3, 2015

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A hostel for migrants in Calais waiting to be re-housed

Official estimates say less than 1,000 migrants are sleeping rough around the busy ferry terminal - down from its peak of close to 3,000 a few months ago.

The fall coincides with Home Office figures showing a record number of stowaways are being discovered by British officials on both sides of the Channel.

Campaigners dismissed claims from France that its new dispersal policy was behind the fall saying not only are migrants slipping through the net but they are also using less heavily protected ports.

We have to strengthen our borders with more Border Agency staff, more police and to leave the EU

Janice Atkinson, Ukip

Janice Atkinson of Ukip said: “We know more are getting through our porous borders.

“The charities in Calais are trying to disperse the migrants to other parts of France, but eventually, they will return as their ultimate destination is Britain. We have to strengthen our borders with more Border Agency staff, more police and to leave the EU.”

Ms Atkinson, MEP for the South East, said she and local police were inundated with eye witness accounts of stowaways escaping from trucks fresh off the ferries.

“I am getting reports from Kent and in Folkestone that migrants are popping out of lorries up and down the M20,” she added.

Charity workers feeding the homeless migrants in and around Calais estimate that there are currently less than 1,000 Africans, Arabs and Asians sleeping rough waiting for their chance to stowaway in lorries, cars and caravans bound for Britain.

At the beginning of the year when a day centre opened on the outskirts of the port and began serving food to refugees, numbers were estimated at around 2,500.

The migrants break into vehicles in lorry parks or when delays create slow moving traffic trying to board the ferries which connect Calais with the Kent coast.

Chaos caused by a fire in the Channel Tunnel on Saturday January 17 saw three hundred get into the tunnel and try to make their way on foot to Dover.

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Migrants wait to receive hot food outside a tent in Calais

Hundreds more are thought to have succeeded in stowing away on trucks forced to a standstill by the emergency shutdown.

The tightening of security around the ferry terminal has seen many head for less well protected ports on the north French coast such as Dunkirk, Cherbourg and Ouistreham.

Sir Charles Montgomery, the director general of the Border Force, last month revealed that the number of illegal migrants discovered at UK borders had doubled over the past year from 18,000 to 36,000. But he was unable to say how many got through undetected.

The surge in attempts to get into Britain coincides with the huge numbers of refugees fleeing the bloody civil war in Syria.

The numbers of UK-bound refugees camped out in Calais could increase again during the spring and summer as new arrivals from Libya fleeing persecution by Islamic extremists start arriving.
Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart welcomed the decrease in migrants at the port.

She said the fall was down to increasing numbers seeking asylum in France instead of the UK and the opening of more refugee centres across the region.

Last year Ms Bouchart, who blames Britain’s generous welfare system for turning her town into a migrant magnate, called for the UK border to be moved back to Dover to ease congestion at her port.