The Red Cross camp was opened in September 1999 to shelter a few hundred illegal immigrants who failed to cross the English Channel which connects the northern tip of France to Britain. They are mainly Afghans, Iraqi and Turkish Kurds who trying to flee their misery for a better life in Northern Europe and especially in Britain where they believe conditions for asylum seekers are more favorable.
The camp is located in a warehouse that housed construction materials and supplies during the building of the Eurotunnel. But the camp has become something of a magnet for illegal immigrants, a place to get a bed, three meals a day and the latest information on the best routes across the Channel until the moment they will emerge and try once again..