by Sue Reid, Daily Mail
A migration catastrophe with deeply ominous portents for ‘open doors’ Britain is unfolding 21 miles away across the Channel.
Multitudes of destitute and desperate men originating from across the world are in the French city of Calais, which increasingly resembles a giant refugee encampment.
In the many years I have reported on the migration crisis sweeping Europe, I have never seen the ferry port so overwhelmed.
This week I watched as yet more people arrived, having fled or been driven out of other countries in Europe which are clamping down on them.
Nearly all of them are men – I have seen only one female migrant in four days – awaiting the traffickers’ boats that leave from nearby beaches for the UK.
Already this year, 32,000 have made the illegal crossing.
The truth is, Calais has become a firmly established stepping stone on the route to Britain.
Scores of white charity vans with British and French number plates criss-cross the city from dawn to dusk delivering rice meals and water to the foreigners who live rough in woodlands near suburban streets, in charity tents perched on the quay in front of the Gothic town hall, or in the myriad squalid shanty camps dotted about the city.
The Red Cross is running emergency pop-up medical clinics to treat diseases including diphtheria and tuberculosis.
The Catholic Church has opened shower blocks in special shelters, and there is no shortage of customers.
Plastered on street signs in countless languages are notices from charities giving ‘arrival’ advice on how migrants can find ‘English toilets’, get a human rights lawyer, avoid police trouble, or access charity support to survive the winter ahead.