Lionel Gougelot / Photo credits: Mathilde Cybulski / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
In Calais and its region, although the number of illegal migrant crossings to Great Britain has fallen this year, migratory pressure remains strong in the region. Faced with the exasperation of local residents, local elected officials want to ask for strong measures, on the occasion of Gérald Darmanin’s probable visit this Thursday.
The situation is still not improving in the Calais region. If the year 2023 marked a 35% drop in the number of successful Channel crossings by migrant boats, local residents remain exasperated by the number of people in an irregular situation. Taking advantage of the visit of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to the sector, the mayors of Oye-Plage and Calais hope for strong measures in the immigration law, such as the reestablishment of the offense of illegal stay in the territory.
“Sometimes we slalom between migrants”
“It’s getting worse and worse for us, there are more and more of them,” testifies one of the residents of Oye-Plage, a town of around 5,000 inhabitants located around fifteen kilometers from Calais. “Sometimes, we slalom between migrants. And when you want to take a bus, it’s full of migrants,” he assures.
“It’s worrying for this population and I understand it,” says DVG Mayor Olivier Majewicz. Despite the reinforced patrols by the gendarmerie, the first councilor says he is abandoned by the authorities and powerless in the face of increasingly violent smuggler mafias. “A gendarmerie van was set on fire near homes on one of the coastal areas. We know well that smugglers fuel this violence.”
A dismay shared by the mayor of Les Républicains de Calais, Natacha Bouchart, who would like the offense of illegal stay in the territory for migrants to be integrated into the immigration law, which was rejected by opposition deputies on Monday. “This would give a legal tool to the police which would create removal and have measures to help them return to their country,” she explains.
Natacha Bouchart also wants to offer humanitarian reception places to examine the situations of exiles more effectively. However, all these measures come up against the rejection of the text by parliamentarians. But a final vote would be planned next Tuesday in the event of agreement in the joint committee on Monday evening.