ABSTRACT
This essay is based on the author's own field research. 1 Between March and December 2002 I was employed by the French Red Cross in the Sangatte camp as a mediator, a sort of social worker, dealing with asylum procedures, conflict prevention and resolution, and providing a link between the camp authorities and the residents. I lived in the camp 24 hours a day in order to carry out participant observation. Due to my professional obligations, however, I was not in a position to interview the smugglers themselves. To do so would have compromised my duties. I would have been seen as a policeman by the migrants or a smuggler by the police. The following analysis is based on numerous interviews carried out with the migrant population of the Sangatte camp. Some of them subsequently succeeded in reaching England, while some sought asylum in France.
