Dutch Interior Minister Marjolein Faber is set to begin implementing tougher measures against asylum seekers allegedly involved in disturbances in Ter Apel on June 1, despite uncertainty about their effectiveness.
Local police are required to enforce the law, but the Ter Apel municipality lacks the capacity to do so.
According to the volkskrant website, these steps include the introduction of permanent surveillance of access to Maarheeze train station due to the frequent disturbances caused by asylum seekers.
The municipality of Ter Apel, located in the northern Netherlands, has been reporting for some time that its police do not have sufficient capacity to prosecute, but according to a municipal spokesperson, they have not received a response from the Ministry of Asylum and Migration.
"Normally, this is followed by consultations," the spokesperson added. "But that did not happen in this case." She was thrown over the fence.
According to the report, other organizations involved in the trial, such as the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, were concerned earlier this month because Minister Faber had announced in the House of Representatives that "everything is in order" for the trial to begin. According to several sources, this was not the case.
In her letter to Parliament on Friday, the minister wrote that consultations with the municipality would take place on June 6. She stated that "the fact that the trial has already begun does not necessarily mean that it will lead to major problems as long as no asylum seekers causing a nuisance are dealt with."
Under the new approach proposed by Interior Minister Faber, asylum seekers who are subject to fast-track procedures because they have little chance of obtaining a residence permit but are causing a nuisance in the meantime will only be allowed to stay in the so-called Process Availability Zone (PBL) and the area around the asylum seekers' center in Ter Apel.
They will be placed under increased supervision in that area and will be required to follow a mandatory daytime and evening program.
This approach is also planned to be implemented elsewhere in the Netherlands in the coming months.
The previous government had tried a similar approach, but the court overturned its decision in March of last year.
According to the judges, the restriction of freedom was not sufficiently justified and had not been individually assessed. The PBL in Ter Apel was forced to close its doors again.
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