Calais

Calais. The last European obstacle before the Promised Land: Great Britain. Around 2,500 migrants of different nationalities take shelter in old sheds, or in makeshift camps known as “jungles”, waiting for nightfall to try to slip aboard trucks going to England. Although many could apply for asylum in France or in the first European country they reached, that was never their intention. They say they don’t have faith in the integration policies of mainland Europe and that they are frightened by the crisis they have seen in some European countries.

Some speak fluent English and believe they will easily find work in English cities and towns, where nobody will stop them and ask to see their identification documents, they say. The number of people coming through Calais trying to reach a better life in Great Britain increased dramatically in 2014, due to conflict in the Middle East, turmoil in Africa, and a mainland Europe struggling to cope with the growing numbers of refugees within its territory.