In Calais, associations fear the consequences of Brexit for migrants
Migrants board a truck on the A16 motorway leading to the Channel Tunnel near Calais.
December 17, 2020. REUTERS - PASCAL ROSSIGNOL
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Asylum and immigration policies are not included in the Brexit deal signed between the UK and the EU.
They will be the subject of future negotiations.
Either way, Brexit will have consequences for the exiles present in Calais who seek to cross illegally to England.
Publicity
Read more
With our special correspondent in Calais,
Alexis Bédu
Every day in the port of Calais, exiles risk crossing to England by hiding in trucks.
These attempts regularly give rise to chases with the
police and sometimes result in tragedies
.
The extreme surveillance of the place accentuated by Brexit will make these crossings even more perilous, warns Juliette Delaplace, project manager at Secours Catholique: “
The border will be reinforced and people will take more risks to cross.
We know that the border is already extremely deadly.
“Since his arrival in Calais last March, 12 exiles have already been killed.
“
It's huge,
judge Juliette Delaplace.
Too much.
"
►
To read on InfoMigrants: In Calais, associations give back their identity to deceased migrants
With Brexit, the United Kingdom is also leaving the Dublin Regulation, a European text that allowed underage exiles to enter British territory if they came to join a member of their family.
"
Even unaccompanied minors who have relatives in the United Kingdom will have no other choice but to take extremely perilous roads by boat or by truck,"
warns Juliette Delaplace.
In our opinion, this is an extremely difficult, painful and dangerous effect of Brexit.
"
The British border has been located in France since the Touquet agreements signed in 2003. With Brexit they are no longer valid.
And for the director of the port of Calais Jean-Marc Puissesseau, they must be renegotiated: “
Boris Johnson wanting to be master of his borders, something must happen for the one in Calais.
It costs us a lot of money and we are not subsidized.
”An opinion shared by many Calais residents, for whom the United Kingdom must assume and reintegrate the border on its territory.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
International Migration
Brexit
United Kingdom
France