Calais immigration chief's plans to solve border crisis? Free ferry tickets to Britain and move the French boundary to Dover



Philippe Mignonet warns the French town is under 'serious pressure

Wants Britain to share burden of migration so it 'understands problem'

Predicts up to 5,000 people could be camped in Calais by end of year

Police delay raids on Jungle 2 camp after tensions erupt into clashes



Migrants massing in Calais should be put on a ferry and sent to Britain, the port’s immigration chief said last night.

Warning that the French town was under ‘serious pressure’ as 1,000 Africans gathered at an illegal camp, Philippe Mignonet also called for the border to be moved from Calais to Dover.

He said he wants Britain to share the burden of migration so it ‘understands how difficult the problem is’.

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Countdown: Migrants from east Africa queue for charity food handouts at their camp in Calais. The destruction of the camp by the French is imminent

Makeshift: Huts erected near Calais to house some of the migrants at the site on the edge of a busy road used by lorries heading to the cross-Channel ferry terminal

Last night Mr Mignonet said his town was struggling to cope and predicted that up to 5,000 people could be camped out in Calais by the end of the year.

‘What we want to do is buy the migrants ferry tickets to Britain and let them deal with the problem,’ he said, adding that more than 30 already make their way across the Channel every day.

‘We want the border to be moved from Calais to Dover and Folkestone for one month so Britain understands how difficult the problem is.’

The comments came as the area’s police chief delayed raids on the camp, known as Jungle 2, after tensions erupted into clashes between migrant groups the night before.

Jungle 2 and another camp had been ‘due to be dismantled’ after court orders to evacuate expired yesterday.

Chin up: A Susanese man gives his friend a shave in a squat at a former recycling factory, close to the camp in Calais

Basic: Eritrean men cook eggs together outside their shelter at an illegal Calais camp, known as 'Jungle 2'

But following the violence the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais area, Denis Robin, said delegations would be sent in to speak to the migrants to prevent any further trouble.

INFLUX AFTER LIBYAN RE-OPENING

The huge influx of migrants from Africa comes after the re-opening of the ports in Libya – a main jumping off point to Europe.

Migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan who have been gathering there for two years can now leave – and an estimated 300,000 are said to be waiting to head across the Mediterranean for a new life.

The change of policy came after Libya said it would help them head to Europe if the EU did not give it financial help to cope with the influx.

From January to April this year, 42,000 migrants were recorded by EU border agency Frontex – 25,650 of them crossing from Libya.

He also announced stricter security measures for the port as well as all-night surveillance following the clashes between Eritrean and Sudanese migrants.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that the mayor of Calais has been writing to French President Francois Hollande three times a day and had written to David Cameron – but was yet to receive a reply.

Mr Mignonet, who is also the town’s deputy mayor, added: ‘People say we are not doing anything, but we can’t stop the migrants going from Africa to Italy and making their way to England. We are just one town.

‘Europe should help us but they do nothing. Our image has suffered and we’re known as a migrant town. Businesses have pulled out of investments because they are concerned about the migrants.’

He predicted having between 2,000 and 5,000 migrants in a year’s time if the ‘present disastrous state of affairs’ continued in Calais.

He blamed the UK for acting as a magnet for migrants wishing to start new lives and called on his government to act to save his town from ‘a slow death’.

Waiting game: How the Mail reported the migrant queue at Calais on Saturday

When asked about Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart’s plans to build a new Sangatte, he said: ‘I dream of that.’



The original Red Cross camp at Sangatte, which was home to 2,000 migrants, was shut in 2002 after sparking a British immigration crisis.

After the closure, the UK accepted hundreds of migrants in a deal with the French government while others were forced to move to a makeshift camp which became known as the Jungle.

It was razed in 2009 by police, forcing the mostly Afghan and Iraqi Kurd migrants to occupy squats and camps.