Struggling camps near Calais brace for refugee influx

Struggling camps near Calais brace for refugee influx

Refugees at the Calais migrant camp, known as the "Jungle", aren't budging from their makeshift homes near the UK border, even after a French court ruled for eviction.

But camps near Calais are bracing for an influx of refugees, despite barely coping with the numbers they have.

For all its religions, backgrounds, races, ethnicities, Camp Calais is holding it together. Praying together, they stay put, despite the looming eviction.

"We are not sure what they want to say, what they want to do; it's kind of a complicated case right now so no one knows what happens," says Afghan refugee Alishir Dalqani.

But when eviction does happen – and the French courts have ruled it will – shacks and homes will be razed.

Many refugees are expected to flee to nearby camps like Dunkirk – a 30-minute drive from Calais.

Jungle migrants already go there at night – not to live, but to escape to Britain.

"We have more chances in Dunkirk than in Calais," says Mr Dalqani. He says the security is not as "tight" as in Calais.

Dunkirk is predominantly Kurdish. In the Jungle, Kurds are a minority.

Some men didn't want to be identified fearing repercussions in Britain, seeking asylum, and repercussions in Iran, fearing death.

In Dunkirk that seems even starker. Newshub has been told countless stories about families being separated, sickness, smuggling and people drinking toilet water for weeks to survive.

Journey's children have endured as well, and there are so many children. Aid workers say already 20-50 people are arriving here each day.

The camp is squalid; there are rats the size of cats and it's rife with disease. It's unsustainable and hard to imagine how it would cope with an influx of refugees from the Jungle.

"Can this camp cope with people here already logistically, logically? No, but if they come we'll welcome them. We'll give them everything we possibly can," says Aid Box convoy volunteer Peter Carr.

And so much has been given, just not the one thing that's wanted most – a place to call home.

Newshub.