The number of migrants shipwrecked off Calais taken in charge by the State has tripled in 2021
A thousand migrants were rescued off Calais and taken care of by the State in 2021, a record year for attempts to illegally cross the Channel, announced on Monday January 10, the French Office for Immigration and integration (OFII). Their number tripled in one year, from 341 to 1,002 (an increase of 194%).
At the end of November, twenty-seven migrants who were trying to reach the English coast aboard a makeshift boat died in the deadliest shipwreck on this sea route, arousing a wave of emotion as much as a resumption of tensions between London and Paris in the migration file. Only two aspirants to exile were rescued during this tragedy and are part of the thousand migrants taken care of last year.
This support represents “a financial effort that continues to increase”, said OFII Director General Didier Leschi, while Channel crossings by migrants also tripled in 2021, according to figures obtained in early January by the British news agency PA from the Ministry of British interior. In 2021, more than 28,000 people tried to reach the shores of England.
“Complex situation of Calais”
Furthermore, the number of people living in makeshift camps on the northern coast in the hope of crossing over to Britain, and who have been “shelters and exits in the national reception system was 31,103” last year, is up 239% compared to 2020 (9,172), according to the OFII. Among these people, the proportion of those with family or “vulnerable” doubled, from 1,158 to 2,273. In total, insists the OFII, 9,779 accommodation places were offered in 2021, mainly in Hauts-de-France (98%) and 6,950 people were accommodated .
The associations that help migrants in the region regularly accuse the authorities of carrying out a dissuasive policy on the coast: several activists had observed a hunger strike between October and mid-November 2020, to demand a moratorium on the almost daily dismantling of camps and denounced the treatment “inhuman” reserved for exiles.
“Failing to take into account the efforts of the State to take charge of the complex situation of Calais is to participate in the hysterization of the debates on immigration”, rejected Mr. Leschi, who has been leading a mediation mission in Calais since October on behalf of the government.