With their eyes on the UK, Calais in France is the last stop on a long journey migrants hope will end on the other side of the Channel.
In 1999 the Sangatte center, run by the French Red Cross, was set up to help feed and shelter migrants in the port city.
But in 2002, under pressure from the UK, France decided to close the center at the end of that year.
“We now need to pass to a new phase, the definitive and complete closing of the Sangatte center. This closure will happen on December 30,” said Sarkozy.
Then French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy scored a political win, getting the UK to provide asylum to 3/4 of the 1,600 migrants at Sangatte, which was then torn down.
But migrants do not disappear by magical agreements made by politicians. Hundreds settled in the surrounding woods. The “jungle”, as it became known, was the scene of a massive crackdown in 2009, but the migrants never stopped coming….
These past 2 years, the number of migrants detained in the Calais reg
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