WATCH: French towns are in 'total anarchy' due to illegal migrants, former diplomat warns

former French diplomat, and that's Francois-Joseph Chachan

Francois, welcome to the show. You know, watching this from a British perspective is clearly very upsetting

but it must be heartbreaking from a French perspective, too, to see these coastal towns like they are completely overran

a situation which looks like total anarchy. Yes, absolutely. I was thinking exactly that when you were showing these images earlier in the programme

It's very revealing that the first victims of this situation are actually these little French towns and the people living there

And by the way, this is not new. This has been taking place for years. But I think we have reached a point now where things are completely out of control in some of these little towns

So it's definitely a UK problem as well, because these people are trying to cross to go to the UK

But it's also very much a French problem with some of these little towns really under pressure from these illegal migrants' population arriving in greater and greater numbers

So that is a real concern for the French authorities, for the French government

Because like in the UK, one of the top priorities of French people is the question of immigration

And this is becoming more and more of a political problem, really

Francois-Joseph, you know, I want to offer solidarity to you and to the French public

When I see this, it really upsets me that the French public are having to live through this too

It must be devastating and traumatising to live in a once beautiful town

to see this backdrop now. I wanted to ask you, are the French public enraged by the fact

that your government seem to be enabling this? NGOs, charities seem to be handing out life jackets

handing out freebies, clearly, as a pull factor. And meanwhile, the gendarmes don't seem to be anywhere in sight

So arguably this situation gets less attention in France than it gets in the UK But this might be about to change because of the size of the problem now and the greater greater numbers that are arriving in the little towns

But it doesn't have the magnitude of this issue as it has in the UK

Nevertheless, there is a greater and greater problem here that the government is trying to address

But as you know, the government currently is distracted in France with internal divisions

and parliamentary fragmentation. So there is little bandwidth for dealing with these kind of issues

Now, when it comes to the behavior of law enforcement authorities, I cannot comment on the specific images that you have shown earlier

And it would be interesting, actually, to ask the French police what happened there, because I agree that there is a problem in the middle of French towns, that there is no law enforcement to be seen to deal with these issues

But the only thing I would say, having worked on these issues in the past as a diplomat, is that it's an extremely difficult and challenging situation to resolve because the French authorities always have to balance between enforcing the law and preventing these people to cross, but also ensuring their safety, because in the end, they are also human beings

And as you pointed out, they live in appalling conditions on the French side

So they are making these balanced decisions all the time. and obviously sometimes it can appear quite shocking

and I agree with that. But in the situation of life jackets in particular

whether you remove the life jackets or not from them, it's not going to change the determination

to want to cross the channel. So the key issue really here

is to address the roots of the problem. And I believe there is more to do between the UK and France

to do that in terms of, for example, addressing the poor factors. Okay, we have to leave you there

but thanks for your company. I really appreciate your efforts. Thank you. That's the former French diplomat Francois-Joseph Chichan

and also a Home Office spokesperson has told GB News this. We've detained and removed more than 35,000 who are here illegally

and a historic deal with the French means those who arrive in small boats

are now being sent back