It might be striking. A city council that wants to close an asylum seekers center, while many refugees from Ukraine have to be taken in. But according to the city council of Cranendonck, the vicissitudes surrounding the asylum seekers’ center in Budel and the war in Ukraine are two different things. The council wants the asylum seekers’ center to close in 2024. But leave the option for a new asylum seekers’ center on the table.
On Tuesday evening, the city council approved an initiative proposal from the political party ELAN. He wants the asylum seekers’ center in Budel to be closed on July 1, 2024, when the permit expires.
The city council also spoke out earlier in favor of closing the asylum seekers center. Actually, the council wanted to close the center as soon as possible, but that is not so easy. The nuisance caused by a group of asylum seekers in Budel and the surrounding area has now exploded. There are great concerns about the many stabbings that took place in a short time.
The city council emphasizes that Cranendonck must also do everything it can to receive Ukrainian refugees. But the asylum seekers’ center as it is now, large and long-term, is no longer possible in the eyes of the municipal councilors. There is too large a group of nuisances, which is at the expense of residents and other refugees.
The city council wants to involve the citizens of Cranendonck in the plans for the area after the closure. A new asylum seekers’ center is not excluded, if the Cranendonckers want it. But the site does belong to defense and they would like to keep it as ‘strategic real estate’.
At the beginning of February, the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration paid a visit to Budel. A number of measures were then taken to improve safety in and around the asylum seekers’ center. For example, the area is still designated as a safety risk area. This means, for example, that preventive searches can be carried out.
After the visit of the State Secretary, it was promised to immediately place a fence around the asylum seekers’ center. This is because people regularly stayed overnight at the asylum seekers’ center who had no business being there. The fencing has still not been placed due to, among other things, delivery problems, but construction will start this week. The procedures for asylum seekers who cause nuisance are also completed more quickly, so that they can be deported if necessary.
According to Mayor Van Kessel, there will be another appointment in mid-March with, among others, the State Secretary to see how things are going in and around the asylum seekers’ center.
ALSO READ: Asylum seekers center in Budel will not close for the next two years
ALSO READ: Nuisance azc Budel: faster procedures to deport safelanders