A French mother was forced to flee her farm with her two young daughters after migrants invaded nearby woods, seeking new beaches to launch small boats for Britain. Héloïse Longuet, 44, who owns a three-century-old farmhouse near Hardelot beach, around 16 miles south of Boulogne, spoke exclusively to the Daily Express about life on the front line of the migrant crisis.
In recent weeks, the region known as the Côte d'Opale has seen an increase in migrant small boat launches, as illegal immigrants and people traffickers head south to dodge French police crackdowns near Calais and Dunkirk. So-called "mini camps" have been spreading in forests up to 70 miles further south.
Mother's Terrifying Walk in the Woods
Héloïse recalled the terrifying moment she was walking in the coastal woods with her daughters, Garance, 13, and Capucine, 10, on a route she used to love before the migrants arrived. "It was just when they first started coming, and I told my daughters let's go for a walk in the forest because it is really nice, but after a few minutes I could hear something crack, you hear it once you think it's ok, but then it happened again and again a third time," she explained.
"A few years ago, I would have thought nothing of it, but I could tell this time someone was near us, a deer does not follow you. I told my oldest daughter to dial the emergency line and keep the line open and we U-turned as fast as possible. I told her to hold her sister's hand, and I held the other and I said whatever happens you 'run, run, run' if I fall. We don't go in the woods anymore and I don't go to the farm alone."
CCTV Footage Shows Migrants Streaming Past Property
Héloïse has had to invest in CCTV on the farmhouse after it was ransacked by migrants just weeks ago and "trashed" with used condoms left strewn on the floor. On chilling footage caught by her cameras, hordes of migrants wearing life jackets can be seen streaming past her property to the beach just 500 yards away. But French police have told her unless they catch migrants in her property, or if they are aggressive or attack her, there is nothing they can do.
Garance said the experience in the woods made her feel "anxious" and "weird" as she did not know if somebody was "around". She added it was "stressful" knowing the migrants were stopping her getting to the family farm. "It's supposed to be our property but we are not free to come."
Migrant Crossings and French Police Response
In recent weeks, the beaches near coastal towns and villages in Hardelot, Berck-sur-Mer and Le Touquet have become favoured for migrant launches of so-called 'mega dinghies' carrying up to 230 migrants at a time. Huge vessels measuring nearly 50ft enter the Channel from secluded launch sites and race along the coast to pick up packs of waiting migrants who have been waiting in the woods and dunes until they get the signal.
French units have prevented 185 "small boat crossing events" in the three months after a new UK-France deal to stop the crossings began in April – defined as stopping launches, seizing equipment including boats, engines and lifejackets, and arresting smugglers. Earlier this month, a record 230 people made the journey in a single boat. Some 15,897 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, down 43% on the same time last year, and an 18% drop from the same point in 2024.
Héloïse, who works in communications, added: "I think English people think French people don't do anything, but I don't think Gendarmes and policemen just here watch migrants leave on boats and go 'ok great'. Their hands are tied because they can't do anything, if they damage the boat trying to stop it, someone could be killed."
Referencing the recent footage released of French forces clashing with migrants, UK Border Security Command's Charlie Eastaugh said: "French officers are not shy in taking bold action to prevent these launches where it is safe and lawful to do so. They work in difficult and dangerous conditions to stop boats launching, seize equipment and disperse large migrant groups as well as saving thousands of lives at sea."
