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France: Migrants spurn new Calais welcome center French government advice centre to help migrants in Calais who want to stay in France opened this week - and failed to get a single inquiry. Critics said the zero response was proof that the migrants only ever had one destination in mind - Britain. The new state-funded 'welcome centre' is the response by Paris to the demand from the Calais local authority for action to deal with the hundreds of migrants in the area. The Daily Mail (U.K.)

France: Controversial squatter camp to be closed by end of the year France aims to shut down by the end of the year a squatter camp in the Channel port of Calais used by migrants heading for Britain, Immigration Minister Eric Besson... France: Authorities move to clear migrants from squalid Calais camp A makeshift camp in Calais known as The Jungle, which is home to hundreds of migrants trying to reach Britain, is to be cleared out by French police. Eric Besson,... France: Police shut down Calais squatter camp for U.K.-bound migrants Eric Besson, who is visiting Calais, said a wooded area known as 'the jungle', which is home to around 800 migrants and where a London student was raped last year,...

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France: Police urged to eschew raids, focus on people smugglers

A police blitz on almost 200 illegal immigrants in Calais has been branded a 'waste of time' - because most people-smuggling chiefs already live in Britain, it was claimed today. The swoop on refugees gangs living in squalid woodland camps...
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France: 150 illegals arrested in sweep near Calais

French police have arrested 150 illegal migrants near Calais, in an operation targeting a sprawling tent city of people hoping to travel secretly to the UK. Hundreds of migrants live in makeshift tents in the woods near the northern French...
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France: Port city mayor blames Brits for immigration dilemma

Paris -- In an angry attack in which she also called for millions in compensation, Natacha Bouchart said the UK was entirely to blame for the hordes of foreigners who use the French port as a staging point to get...
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France: Gov't mulls elected MPs for expats abroad

The new French overseas constituency of the UK would have its own députés to voice the interests of the estimated 400,000 expats living in Britain. Under the proposals, Britain would become one of 11 new French constituencies located in countries...
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France: Gov't warns against arranged marriages

France launched a new campaign to warn potential victims of forced marriages and female genital mutilation on Tuesday, with stark posters and booklets showing a wedding ring made of barbed wire. France is home to an estimated 55,000 victims of...
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France: Gov't cracking down on forced marriages

Paris (AP) -- France's government launched a campaign Tuesday against forced marriages and genital mutilation, seeking to protect women from practices that quietly thrive in immigrant communities the nation is struggling to integrate. The government is handing out 100,000 leaflets...
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France: Protests held over gov't curbs on illegal alien-aiding

French activists staged protests in several cities Wednesday against what they say is government pressure on people who help illegal immigrants. Immigrant support groups and other rights organizations demonstrated in Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseilles and Paris after a series of arrests...
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France: Indian Ocean territory approves integration

Mayotte Voters in the tiny island of Mayotte, between Madagascar and Mozambique, voted to become a fully fledged part of the French Republic. The island will be transformed in 2011 from the present loosely administered 'French collectivity' into France's 101st...
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France: Gov't frets size of illegal population on Indian Ocean territory

The tiny Indian Ocean island of Mayotte will be the focus of attention across France when the French territory holds a referendum Sunday on whether to become a French overseas department. The growing number of illegal immigrants from neighbouring impoverished...
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France: Volunteers fret retaliation from government

Paris (AP) -- It wasn't yet 8 a.m. when police knocked on Monique Pouille's door, searched her home and took her away - all because she recharged cell phones for illegal migrants. The 59-year-old volunteer with several groups in the...
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France: U.K.-bound illegals construct makeshift mosque

Britain-bound illegal migrants have been given the equipment to start building their own 'mini-Sangatte' structures in Calais - and the first is a mosque. The dramatic development saw the sacred place of worship erected on a stretch of wasteland nicknamed...
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France: Film serves as reminder to gov't. of immigration crisis

For President Nicolas Sarkozy, the film 'Welcome' that opened this month in France is a grim reminder of an immigration imbroglio that won't go away. The Bloomberg News...
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France.: Youths taking desperate measures to sneak into Great Britain

He has crossed deserts, seas and mountains in pursuit of his dream but the English Channel is proving more of an obstacle. Sawab, a 12-year-old Afghan boy, is reduced to living under a piece of plastic in Calais while awaiting...
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France: Smuggler photographed herding illegals onto U.K.-bound trucks

The alleged fixer reportedly lies in wait by the side of the road before trying to force open the rear doors of passing lorries Photo: Kent News & Pictures Ltd The man allegedly lies in wait by the side of...
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