If you want to understand why people are still risking everything to cross the Channel, let me take you to a quiet road near Dunkirk, where chaos is in the air.
A group of about 40 or 50 people – expatriates who have recently failed attempt to cross the channel – Being pressed down the road. They are tired and injured. Police are all around them, like teachers trying to control an unruly school trip.
Behind, police officers on foot were giving instructions in French that almost no one could understand. The group turns as one, and heads down a side road that leads to a field.
“No, no,” the policeman yells in frustration. His head turns backwards. “No,” he yells, then runs after them.
These people are mostly strangers to each other, united by the single goal of reaching Britain. We had seen the group 12 hours earlier crossing another field, apparently heading for the nearby beach, but then they were out of sight, going down an alley between houses.
Rishi Sunak has vowed to reduce small boat crossings in the Channel
Like many people, he had attempted to make the crossing, and failed. This time, according to one of the people we spoke to, the reason was the police, who patrolled these beaches throughout the night.
As the group tried to take a boat to shore, the police blew a hole in it, rendering the ship useless.
but that’s not all. They also claimed that the police had used rubber bullets to disperse them.
Bich, a Vietnamese woman whom we find sitting on the ground, in tears, exhausted, lifts up her trousers to reveal a nasty, fiery bruise.
“We went towards the boat but the police shot at us. They destroyed the boat and it sank. And then they shot me.”
“Plastic pistol” is how another man described the weapons, and showed me a huge scar on his thigh. The third has a circular wound, with a point in the centre, as if it had been struck by the top of a canister.
Some migrants claimed they were shot with ‘plastic pistols’
The group was a diverse group. Often, over years of talking to migrant groups in northern France, they have come to be united by background – one boat is filled with Iraqi Kurds, while the other boat is filled with Afghans.
But here, we found an international group.
Yes, Kurds, Iraqis and Afghans, but also Syrians, Vietnamese, Sudanese and, hidden behind a cap and a jumper pulled over his mouth and nose, a man who told me he was from Morocco.
Some people have been determined to reach Britain since leaving their home country. Others are more practical. Another told me he wanted to stay in France but was just told he would be deported.
Tired migrants trying to cross the Channel after being stopped by police.
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“We have problems but we’re being deported, so we want to go to Britain for a better life,” says one. “Deport, deport,” another man yells.
So Britain may represent its last chance hospital As many European nations begin to increase the number of deportation orders they issue.
The EU recently concluded a long-debated agreement on migration, which aims to tighten both its borders and resolution.
Sweden, France, Italy and many others have been making very tough rhetoric about removing from their territories people who have been refused asylum. And results have also started appearing.
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Germany, which opened its doors to more than a million people fleeing Syria, is one of those increasing the number of deportations, sending 20% more migrants in the first two months of this year compared to the same period in 2023 .
And then, of course, there’s Britain’s Rwanda Plan, The plan, backed by an apparent promise from the Prime Minister to reduce the number of small boats crossing the Channel, is designed to deter people from making these crossings.
If they knew about the Rwanda Plan, and certainly some did, they dismissed it as ineffective, unjust, or outright false.
One Syrian man said, “Britain cannot send me to Africa after what you have done to my country and my region.” He was aware of the Rwandan policy and said it was “not true”.
“It’s not safe in Rwanda so you can’t send people there,” insisted another person, perhaps unknowingly caught in the crossfire of so many parliamentary exchanges.
“There are people who are trying to flee because of what’s happening in Rwanda. So you can’t say it’s safe.”
Dinghys were seen on a Border Force ship at Dover. File photo: Reuters
A lot has been done against these groups of migrants. The British government does not want them to come, claiming they have been attacked by police in the Dunkirk area, the crossing is dangerous and expensive and there is growing antipathy towards migrants across Europe.
Yet none of these men appear to be deterred, promising to persevere, and firmly convinced that reaching British shores will be the panacea for their troubles.
“We’ll be back tomorrow,” says a young man with a grown beard and a wide smile. “We want to go to the UK.”
His friend next to him just looked at me and smiled. “The UK is good,” he said, giving a thumbs up.
The group headed back to their camp near Grande-Synthe, a town that has become a magnet for migrants. They are tired and, in some cases, battered. But they will try again soon.
Sky News has contacted French police for comment on the migrants’ claims.