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Britain's Border War (Dispatch 1)

Hundreds of displaced people are living and dying in squalor inside one of Europe's biggest migrant camps.

Refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, and Eritrea steadily descend on a migrant camp in the French coastal town of Calais. They hope to gain entry to the UK, just 21 miles away across the English Channel. But in May, French police destroyed their camp and told the migrants to go elsewhere. And so they moved… across the street. With the few tents and blankets they're able to salvage, the refugees formed the Salam camp, which now holds about 400 people. Every night, the migrants — many of whom have been forced to flee war and conflict in their home countries — attempt to sneak aboard trucks headed for Britain; eight migrants have already died this year while trying to make the journey.

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Inside Salam, things have gotten so bad that some occupants are hunger striking in an attempt to draw attention to their plight. But the French authorities do little to help, while the UK government turns a blind eye. VICE News spent time in the Salam camp to find out why hundreds of displaced people are being allowed to live in squalor — and even die.

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