Trafficking gangs have been revealed to be hiding migrants in abandoned Nazi bunkers before risking their lives on overcrowded dinghies crossing the Channel.
Dozens of desperate Kurds are sheltering within concrete enclaves built by Adolf Hitler’s forces during Germany’s Second World War occupation of France.
The dune hideouts are less than a mile from the northern French coast between Calais and Dunkirk where migrants camp out ahead of attempts to reach the UK.
The revelations come after would-be asylum seekers insisted they would not be deterred by Rishi Sunak’s ‘stop the boats’ plan finally passed by Parliament last week.
The Prime Minister hopes to start deportation flights to Rwanda by this July in a multi-million-pound scheme he insists will put people off entering Britain illegally.
Dozens of desperate Kurds are sheltering within concrete enclaves built by Adolf Hitler’s forces during Germany ‘s Second World War occupation of France
Trafficking gangs are hiding migrants in abandoned Nazi bunkers before risking their lives on overcrowded dinghies crossing the Channel
Yet people-smuggling gangs appear to remain rampant across the Channel and have turned to the former Nazi bunkers built as part of Hitler’s supposed ‘Atlantic Wall’.
The constructions formed part of his regime’s attempts to prevent the Allies including Britain from invading German-held France ahead of D-Day, which has its 80th anniversary this June.
Many now remain on the outskirts of 5,000-population town Grand-Fort-Philippe and include barracks, weapon storerooms and a former anti-tank gun garage.
A local told the Mirror: ‘The gangs are using the bunkers as a final staging post for the migrants to rest and prepare for the final stage of their journey.
‘Large numbers of them arrive each day and stay huddled together inside them out of sight through the night before leaving early to get on dinghies.
‘Police are aware of what’s happening but there isn’t much they can do.’
Reports told how more than 70 men, mostly from the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, were taken from a bus and into the bunkers on Thursday evening – ahead of small boat crossing attempts in the early hours the next morning.
Almost 7,000 people have travelled to the UK on small boats so far this year, a 20 per cent increase compared to the equivalent point in 2023.
Border Force staff are seen dealing with migrants coming ashore in Dover, Kent, this month
A large group of migrants was seen sprinting across a beach before climbing on to a small dinghy as they prepared to head towards the UK in front of UK-funded French police
A boat of migrants is seen being picked up by Border Force officials in the English Channel pm April 14
Yet across the whole of last year there were 29,437 arrivals – down by 36 per cent from the record of 45,774 set in 2022.
Among the latest making such journeys is Danayet Abrha, 25, from Eritrea, who told of wanting to train as a nurse in London.
She said: ‘I’ve been here two weeks. Two of my friends died after drowning on a boat from Libya to Italy and some have been imprisoned in Libya.
‘I’m not scared of being here or of the boat journey to England. I’ve already been through much worse. We’ve been on a hard road and we aren’t going to stop now.’
Sheltering in a forest near Dunkirk was Maryam Shinwari, 24, along with her husband and three children after they fled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after threats..
She said: ‘It is very hard – the weather is very cold. I am scared about the journey across the water.’
The attempted crossings continue despite five people including a child dying when a dinghy capsized off the coast of northern France last Tuesday.
Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl died during the chaos after their dinghy, laden with 112 people, was stormed by a rival group of migrants as it prepared to set off.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame, seen meeting at Downing Street in London on April 9, have agreed a deal for deportation flights to the African country
The Hope Hostel (pictured) in Rwanda’s capital Kigali has been lined up to house migrants after they have been deported from the UK
An 18-year-old survivor, named only as Heivin, has told how dozens of people were trampled as migrants armed with sticks and knives piled into the vessel.
The Iraqi teenager told Sky News: ‘It was because of them that people died.
‘If they hadn’t come and started fighting, none of this would have happened.. People were fighting, people were getting stepped on, they were dying and being thrown off.’
The new Rwanda law aims to clear the way to send asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats on a one-way flight to Kigali.
Rwanda’s government has negotiated a multi-million-pound deal to process asylum applications by people found to have illegally tried to enter the UK.
Last year, there were 67,337 asylum applications to the UK and, of those, 29,437 came from people who arrived in small boats.
The Rwanda scheme’s capacity is 200 people per year, meaning if the scheme had been running last year just 0.7 per cent of small boat migrants would be deported.
Migrants camping in Dunkirk on the northern French coast have been declaring they will still try to cross to UK – and keep coming back even if deported.
Ministers had been hoping to see the first deportations take off before May 2 local elections
Dozens of migrants were seen here crossing the Channel on a small boat on March 6 this year
Last year, there were 67,337 asylum applications to the UK. Of those, 29,437 came from people who arrived in small boats. The Government claims the Rwanda scheme will act as a deterrent, however it only has the capacity to send 200 people a year to the East African country
And an Iranian man who claimed asylum in Greece first before crossing the Channel in a small boat and settling in Britain forecast the threat of deportations to Rwanda would not stop migrants from coming here.
Nima Moradi told BBC2’s Newsnight programme last Wednesday: ‘You see how many people are trying to cross the Channel last night.
‘People have access to information, they already know the law has passed but still they will try to do it because they will say, ‘It’s not going to apply to me”.’
Britain’s neighbours are increasingly drawing up copycat schemes, it has emerged.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s Party manifesto for June’s EU elections proposes a UK-style asylum plan.
It stipulates that ‘anyone applying for asylum in the EU could also be transferred to a safe third country and undergo the asylum process there’.
Mr Sunak wrote in today’s Mail On Sunday that Britain was leading the world in being tough on migrants.
He wrote: ‘I said when I first became Prime Minister that others would recognise a meaningful deterrent is the only way to stop the boats and now even top parties in the EU are following our lead.’
More than 100 illegal migrants have already been earmarked for the first wave of Rwanda deportations (File Image)
People at a migrant camp in Dunkirk, northern France, have insisted the threat of being put on flights to Rwanda to have their asylum applications processed would not put them off
One would-be asylum seeker at a camp in Dunkirk, northern France, insisted Rwanda was not a safe country for migrants
More than 400 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Tuesday including these migrants brought to shore in Kent by the RNLI Dover lifeboat
Meanwhile, his government has dismissed the prospect of Britain taking back migrants who cross into Ireland to avoid being deported to Rwanda.
Dublin is looking at legal avenues to force asylum seekers coming to the Republic to return to Northern Ireland, after raising concerns that 80 per cent of recent arrivals had taken that route.
Ireland’s deputy PM Micheál Martin has pointed the finger at the Rwanda policy, saying that migrants were leaving the UK because they were ‘fearful’ of being sent to the African state.
Talks with Home Secretary James Cleverly to ease tensions are expected tomorrow.
But Mr Sunak told Sky News the comments from Ireland demonstrated that ‘the deterrent is already having an impact’.
He added: ‘If they know they won’t be able to stay they are much less likely to come.’
He told the channel’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: ‘My focus is on the United Kingdom and securing our borders. But what that comment illustrates is a couple of things.
‘One, that illegal migration is a global challenge, which is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe will follow where the UK has led.
Rishi Sunak announced ‘nothing will stand in our way’ as he vowed to get flights to Rwanda started ahead of his ‘stop the boats’ plan finally being approved by Parliament last Monday
People camping in Dunkirk, northern France, hoping to try crossing the Channel have described the government’s Rwanda flight plans as ‘inhumane’
Another, left, insisted he would ‘keep on’ trying to get to Britain even if flown to Rwanda
One migrant at a camp in Dunkirk has told BBC Breakfast it is ‘no matter’ to him whether he is deported to Rwanda and how he sees it as ‘important’ to go to the UK
‘But what it also shows, I think, is that the deterrent is, according to your comment, already having an impact because people are worried about coming here and that demonstrates exactly what I’m saying.
‘If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay, they’re much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.’
And ministers shrugged off the idea Dublin could try to return individuals who cross the border, which is not subject to checks under the Common Travel Area rules.
A spokesman for Irish premier Simon Harris said he was ‘very clear about the importance of protecting the integrity’ of Ireland’s migration system.
The spokesman added: ‘Ireland has a rules-based system that must always be applied firmly and fairly.
‘In that context, the Taoiseach has asked the Minister for Justice to bring proposals to Cabinet next week to amend existing law regarding the designation of safe ‘third countries’ and allowing the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK.
‘This is one of a number of measures we are taking to strengthen our system and ensure that it is strong, effective and agile. Rules and the integrity of our migration system will be to the fore of our actions.’
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