FILE - In this Oct.23 2017 file photo, migrants from Iraqi Kurdistan queue for food provided by French charity organization, in Grand-Synthe, near the northern France town of Dunkirk. French officials say Monday Jan.15, 2018 France wants to sign a new deal with the U.K. that would involve greater British financing of the costs of handling migrants camped in the northern French port city of Calais.
FILE - In this Oct.23 2017 file photo, migrants from Iraqi Kurdistan queue for food provided by French charity organization, in Grand-Synthe, near the northern France town of Dunkirk. French officials say Monday Jan.15, 2018 France wants to sign a new deal with the U.K. that would involve greater British financing of the costs of handling migrants camped in the northern French port city of Calais. Michel Spingler AP Photo
FILE - In this Oct.23 2017 file photo, migrants from Iraqi Kurdistan queue for food provided by French charity organization, in Grand-Synthe, near the northern France town of Dunkirk. French officials say Monday Jan.15, 2018 France wants to sign a new deal with the U.K. that would involve greater British financing of the costs of handling migrants camped in the northern French port city of Calais. Michel Spingler AP Photo

The Latest: France's Macron visits migrant center

January 16, 2018 03:52 AM

The Latest on the French president's visit to Calais (all times local):

10:50 a.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting a migrant center in northern France as he prepares to press Britain to do more to help deal with migrants who converge on the Calais region in hopes of crossing the Channel.

Macron talked briefly Tuesday with Sudanese migrants at the center in Croisilles, home to 63 people. He questioned officials about measures to speed up processing for migrants who agree to apply for asylum in France.

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He also asked about migrants who abandon such centers to try to sneak across the Channel instead. The head of the association managing three centers in the Pas-de-Calais region, Guillaume Alexandre, said nearly 70 percent of migrants there leave before filing any paperwork in France.

Macron goes later Tuesday to Calais, and meets Thursday with British Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss accords that effectively put the British border in Calais.

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9:20 a.m.

President Emmanuel Macron is visiting the port city of Calais, where hundreds of migrants hide out while trying to make an end run to Britain.

The northern city, laced with high fences and a wall, is the closest point between France and Britain, with two cross-Channel transport systems, the Eurotunnel and ferries that are a magnet for migrants.

Macron is visiting a migrant center before meeting security forces in Calais on Tuesday.

Macron wants changes to the 2003 Touquet Accords that effectively moved the British border to Calais and have left France with the problem of dealing with migrants refused entry into Britain. He is meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London on Thursday.