San Francisco Frontiers - Dreams of Britain warm migrants against harsh French winter

"Sometimes it's really tough," the Sudanese said outside the abandoned warehouse where he has lived for the six months waiting for a chance to cross the Channel to Britain.

"Some people don't have a blanket or anything to keep warm -- even a coat," he said.

Dozens of tents are crammed in the warehouse's gloomy interior on the outskirts of the port city of Calais. Authorities say about 400 of the 750 people around the city waiting to cross to Britain live there.

Cold, humid gusts blow through cracks in the wall, while bags of rubbish pile up outside. Drenched clothes hang on a barbed wire fence nearby.

Hasan Abdullah, a fellow Sudanese, said his set-up inside the warehouse was not ideal, but it was better than sleeping rough.

"I wrap myself in several blankets -- three or four -- then I cover my tent in plastic and it's fine," said the 21-year-old.

- 'Outside for four days' -

The state has set up other warehouse shelters with heating, beds and sleeping bags for up to 500 migrants when the weather is too cold, according to local official Agathe Cury.

But they have only been open for 15 nights in total since December 1.

And while migrants can also sleep in assigned shelters for asylum seekers that are open all year round, many say they prefer to sleep close to potential departure points to make the illegal Channel crossing.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Tuesday said official measures to shelter migrants from the cold were "insufficient", and urged the provision of permanent shelters "at least until the end of winter".

To help, the non-governmental organisation rented 10 hotel rooms in Calais from early December to the end of March.

MSF says the rooms shelter 29 people -- including families, pregnant women and unaccompanied minors.

Thirteen-year-old Najma from Somalia has been sleeping there with her family.

"I slept outside for four days," she told AFP, sitting on a sofa in a communal living room.

"It was very cold, and the place we were sleeping was not clean," the teenager said, adding there was no "food, water, or tea".

But here "it's much cleaner... you have everything, and it's not cold. It's very nice."

Mohammad, a 44-year-old from Syria, said he and his daughter caught influenza sleeping outside before finding refuge at the hotel.

"January has been particularly cold," he said, preferring not to give his second name.

- 'Need to go to London' -

MSF coordinator Feyrouz Lajili said migrants in Calais were "surviving in shameful, inhumane conditions".

The state plan for shelter during extreme cold "was not activated in December, despite the very low, even negative temperatures", she said.

But authorities say they do not want to encourage migrants to settle along the coast.

Cury, the local official, said it would be "nonsensical" to invest in saving the lives of migrants attempting the Channel crossing, while also "putting them just next to where smugglers operate".

At least 76 migrants died trying to cross to Britain last year, according to French authorities, making 2024 the deadliest year on record for the crossings.

Tens of thousands reached Britain, where the government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

Despite the cold, the men, women and children who made it to Calais continue to dream of crossing the sea to the United Kingdom.

"We need to go to London because we need education. I want to go to school, and I need a good life and safety," said Najma, adding Somalia was "not safe".

"We haven't taken the boat yet, but we need to. We're waiting. I hope I can go one day."

Hussein, a 27-year-old from Kuwait staying at the hotel, said his wife almost drowned a few days earlier when they set out into the Channel on a dinghy.

But the man, who preferred not to give his surname, said he was determined to try again.

"Even if something happens to me or I die trying, it'll be better than life over here," he said.

B.Ramirez--SFF