In the middle of the night the vigilante gathers, someone has spotted a ‘sleeper outside’. It lies on shopping carts on the Market Square in Ter Apel. “That doesn’t belong here. It should remain within the COA,” says Harry Siemers. He is one of the members of the vigilante group. The ten of them, flashlight in hand, approach the asylum seeker, who is lying on the shopping carts. “Hello, how are you? Why are you sleeping here?” asks Willeke Vroom of the vigilante.
It is not the first time in a short time that this has happened. Earlier, asylum seekers were also found sleeping in a sheltered sleeping area near the public toilet on the Marktplein in the shopping center. “This is not possible. It is not safe for the people and not safe for the villagers,” says Vroom. Edis Vukalic, another member of the vigilante group, also says the situation is unacceptable. Both for asylum seekers and for residents. “Last week it was carnival. A lot of people walked through Ter Apel having a drink. And then sleeping outside in the village is simply not safe for the asylum seekers,” he says.
Moreover, according to the civil guard, it goes against all agreements made with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). It was promised that no people would sleep on the streets in the village. For example, COA is not allowed to kick out people who are being accommodated if, for example, they are annoying.
The situation in the village is hardening, as became clear during the crisis in 2022. When large groups of asylum seekers were at the gate, there were local residents who deliberately honked their horns at night to keep the asylum seekers awake or threw eggs.
Vukalic is afraid that young people in the village will do the same to those who sleep outside. “I have seen that they were gathering to harass an asylum seeker, but that has not happened yet. That is also because we are quick and we then return them to the COA on time,” he says. The civil guard always repeats what the agreements are regarding outdoor sleepers.
The COA reports that no one is thrown outside the gate if they are entitled to asylum reception. Not even if that person is annoying or does things that are not allowed. “Removal from the shelter is not a punitive measure that we can impose,” a spokesperson said. It does happen that people knock on the door of the registration center where it turns out that they are not entitled to shelter or already have a place elsewhere in the Netherlands. This group is rejected.
These people are requested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) to leave Ter Apel. “We then give them a ticket to travel. This often happens in coordination with the military police and police. We also report it to the municipality,” explains an IND spokesperson. The organizations involved then monitor whether they actually leave Ter Apel.
According to the municipality, sleeping outside is ‘not a very common phenomenon’. It is pointed out that it is rare for enforcers to find asylum seekers sleeping outside.
The municipality calls it a good thing ‘if the vigilante functions as extra eyes and ears and passes on information to the right organization’. The municipality is less enthusiastic when the outdoor sleepers are brought back to the reception complex by the vigilantes. “This should be left to the competent authorities,” said the response from the municipality of Westerwolde.