France, Calais, The Telegraph, Oct 29, 2016 –  France has demanded that Britain takes in nearly 1,500 child migrants being temporarily sheltered in shipping containers on the site of the now-cleared Calais Jungle camp.
A diplomatic row has erupted over the fate of the unaccompanied minors, with French and British ministers blaming each other for leaving them in limbo.
Home Office staff have been screening the children to determine if they are eligible for resettlement in Britain, either because they have relatives living in the country or on humanitarian grounds, under the Dubs Amendment.
As bulldozers continued demolishing the remains of the camp next to the fenced-off enclosure where the children are staying, France insisted that Britain should fulfill its “responsibilities” to give all of them homes.
Xavier Bertrand, the president of the Calais regional council, said: “We now need the British government to implement and accelerate the juvenile transfer process to the UK… It is a question of humanity and dignity.” The head of the French refugee agency said France had given shelter to thousands of adults from the Jungle and Britain should look after the children.

Fifty young migrants evacuated from Calais ‘Jungle’

“We’ve done Britain’s work in tending to the adults,” Pascal Brice told Reuters. “The least they can do is take care of the isolated minors… who have an interest in going to Britain.” On Friday, France bowed to British pressure and took more than 100 child migrants left stranded in the Jungle without any shelter to accommodation centers.
The move came after Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, told French authorities they must protect children left behind after the clearance of the camp.
Her French counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve, reacted angrily, claiming France was offering shelter to more migrants than Britain. He demanded that the UK take in children who wish to come to the country, saying: “That is the best way for them to be protected.” Nevertheless, three buses were eventually laid on to take 113 minors and seven over-18s to shelters elsewhere in France.
Some of the teenagers had been sleeping at a makeshift school, consisting of a large timber barn-like structure covered in canvas and tarpaulins. Others slept at an improvised church or in large shacks used as mosques. The structures have now been demolished.
A group of 20 or 30 youths refused to board the buses, saying they were going to keep trying to smuggle themselves across the Channel to Britain.

The Jungle, the camp east of Calais where many migrants hope to make it to the UK is expected to be closed later this month

Britain has already taken more than 300 children from the Jungle. When the first groups arrived in the UK last week, some appeared to be well into adulthood, sparking a row over whether the Home Office and charities were screening them properly.
Charity workers in Calais have since acknowledged that some adults were mistakenly allowed into Britain.
They said the screening process was hindered by adults who posed as children, overloading the system and preventing some genuine children from being considered.
François Guennoc of the Auberge des Migrants, a French charity, said: “There are minors who gone to the CAO (accommodation centers in France) and adults who have gone to Britain.” An estimated 7,000 migrants had sheltered at the Jungle while they attempted to smuggle themselves across the Channel to Britain.
More than 5,500 have been taken to centers elsewhere in France. Hundreds have gone to Paris where they are sleeping rough on the streets, Colombe Brossel, a deputy mayor, told Reuters.
Aid groups say hundreds if not thousands more adults and minors may have fled into the hinterland around the Jungle, ready to return when the heavy police presence wanes.

Police are rounding up migrants still in the Calais area. Residents said they were happy that few migrants are now wandering around the town or nearby countryside.
About 150 former Jungle residents have been arrested in recent days, police sources said.
They are being held as illegal aliens and could face deportation.
The arrests signal a new tougher approach and police are carrying out special patrols to stop migrants establishing other camps in the area. They said there did not appear to be large numbers left in Calais, although dozens have arrived in the port town this week.
Officials in other French Channel ports where migrants are known to gather, such as Cherbourg and Dieppe, said they would tighten security if they saw an increase in arrivals. “That hasn’t happened yet but it’s still early days,” an official at the Cherbourg Préfecture said.