At the Channel crossings from France to England – Calais, Dunkirk and the Channel Tunnel – thousands of travellers, both tourists and migrants want to travel to the UK. Most of the migrants came from the Horn of Africa, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea.

The Guardian, Friday 18 July 2014

“At the three most popular sites for migrants to attempt a Channel crossing, Calais, Dunkirk and the Channel Tunnel, a total of 10,500 migrants were arrested in the first six months of 2014, compared with 5,133 for the same period in 2013.”

There were many reactions on the Internet, both positive and negative from aid organisations and migrants concerning the actions taken by the French authorities. But is there a solution that pleases everyone?

The answer is not easy; neither the problem. And, not for the ferry companies either. How do you create a safe and secure environment for legal travellers, like tourists? The migrants want to make the crossing to England too. How do you keep illegal ones outside the ferry departure areas?

The result in Dunkirk is a large fence, equipped with razor wire to make unauthorized access to the site impossible. It evokes mixed feelings inside this area, in between the car and caravan parking lanes. If on holiday, you have the choice to travel legally, while the migrants have little or maybe no choice to leave France. It is a huge problem for national and local governments, and of course for the migrants.