Despite the risk and the mobilization of significant surveillance resources, the phenomenon remains on the increase. Attempts to cross the Channel illegally between France and England have multiplied in recent months, due in particular to the increasingly organized networks of smugglers.
Since January 1, the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea has thus recorded 342 attempts or crossings involving 4,192 migrants, against 203 attempts or crossings involving 2,294 migrants over the whole of 2019.
The authorities sometimes see "dozens of people attempting the crossing on a single day" and even 232 on July 30, confirms Philippe Sabatier, deputy prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer. A situation that aroused the wrath of the British government on Sunday, and led to a meeting in Paris on Tuesday.
"We would never have thought that the crossings would take on such a scale"
“On the ground, this translates into significant flows of migrants, there are many new arrivals and also people who disappear, some of whom manage to cross,” says François Guennoc, vice-president of the Auberge des migrants. , which currently lists “between 1,000 and 1,200 migrants” spread over the Calais-Coquelles area, where dismantling is regular.
Even if the summer weather encourages more departures, "we would never have thought that the crossings would take on such a scale, although they have grown steadily since October 2018," he notes. But “it works, because the crossing success rate is between 60 and 70% which is still significant. "
The prefecture of Pas-de-Calais, however, shows other results. “From January to July 2020, the crossings prevented and the arrests of migrants were multiplied by more than 5, compared to the same period in 2019. For July 2020, we prevented 10 times more crossings than in July 2019 and 4 times more boats and equipment were discovered in the dunes, ”the authorities assure.
Inflatable boats
For an average of 3,000 euros per person, smugglers have migrants embark on makeshift boats, mostly tires bought on advertising sites but also in Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands. "When the weather conditions allow it, they deliver the boat to the coast and then make sure that the customers reach the place of embarkation […] It is a particularly lucrative mode of passage and easier to organize", explains Philippe Sabatier .
Faced with this upsurge, the authorities have deployed significant maritime and land resources. Since January, "at the Boulogne-sur-Mer judicial court, four channels relating to maritime passages have been dismantled, corresponding to seven people convicted," said the prosecution.
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But the difficulties are multiple: the "immensity of the area to be covered, difficult conditions of intervention", in particular to "locate night migrants on beaches with various reliefs", the "willingness of migrants to pass at all costs. despite the risk ", or even" violence by smugglers to force them to board ", in particular by" overloading the boats ", lists Philippe Sabatier.
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And according to François Guennoc, the networks of smugglers, "very organized", call on "new techniques", "in addition to the usual illegal crossings by trucks" and "in particular the use of low-powered pneumatic boats on board which we does not hesitate to pile up a surplus of passengers who know nothing about navigation ”.
For Claire Millot, general secretary of the Salam association, "what pushes people to depart under these conditions is the way they are constantly being chased, and their living conditions intolerable". “More and more people are coming, because people know it's going. […] We repeat over and over again that it is extremely dangerous, but knowing that they do not kill themselves, they want to pass, even with incredible means like paddle boards or canoes… ”, concludes -she.
