Immigrants have been trying to reach the UK from Calais, France through the tunnel under the English Channel. This doing has caused disruption and delay of vehicles approaching the port. For this reason, a joint project of France and UK has been made that involves creating a wall in Calais.
The project is the latest attempt of the UK government to stop refugees and migrants from reaching the country. People have reportedly been trying to hide themselves on trucks crossing the tunnel. This wall will supposedly prevent them in getting closer to the vehicles.
The "anti-intrusion wall" will be four meters tall and approximately one kilometer long. The wall, which is an extension of high fences and barbed wire, stretches along the road that leads to the harbor. British Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill has said in an announcement, "We've done the fence. Now we're doing a wall."
It has been years since migrants were trying to reach Britain in an overcrowded and informal migrant camp, referred to as "The Jungle", located along the English channel. As of this time, the estimated population of migrants in the camp are reaching from 7,000 to 10,000 people.
According to Home Secretary Amber Rudd, the wall is 'not a new initiative.' Rudd added, "We support the French with money to help them do that. It is up to them how they decide to secure their borders in Calais and around it."
CNN reported that the project is a part of a £17 million ($23 million) deal between France and the UK.
However, British truck drivers say the wall is a "poor excuse of taxpayer's money." Head of Road Haulage Association, Richard Burnett, said that the money used in building the wall should instead be spent on increasing security not just within the port perimeter, but in the surrounding areas as well.
According to NY Times, François Guennoc, an activist of L'Auberge des Migrants, an organization that helps migrants in Calais, said, "It's a bad way of wasting British money. Walls don't work." He added that the wall would only move the problem further inland along the road.
The work on the wall began on September 20 and is due to finish this December.
