The patience of municipalities and citizens of the Northern Netherlands who do take their responsibility for the reception of asylum seekers is being severely tested.
The police were too busy on Saturday to pick up two asylum seekers who had stolen beer from the supermarket in Zoutkamp, so two military police who happened to be in the village took the young men with them. Residents who feel unsafe since the emergency shelter for refugees was opened opposite the barracks two weeks ago, fear that villagers will play for their own justice as a result.
It was predictable that there is a small group of nuisances, among the hundreds of asylum seekers who have to wait temporarily in the temporary shelter at the barracks for registration in Ter Apel. Why the police are not prepared for this is one of the many questions about asylum policy that is difficult to answer.
All kinds of government bodies are passing the problem on to another like a hot potato. Municipalities refuse to arrange emergency shelter and believe that a neighboring municipality should do it. The police refuse to arrest shoplifters and believe that supervisors should intervene. The central government believes that COA should arrange reception, or else the provinces or municipalities. The patience of well-intentioned municipalities and citizens in the Northern Netherlands in particular, who are willing to contribute, is being severely tested.
For example, the cabinet has not been able to find a solution for underage asylum seekers for some time, of whom far too many are now staying in Ter Apel. There is room for 55, but there are about 300 sleeping places. If every municipality in the Netherlands freed up just one home for these children, the problem would be solved, said State Secretary Eric van der Burg. But even that doesn’t work. As a result, the judge must even force the cabinet to find a solution for this group of minors.
In the meantime, implementation of the asylum agreement that the cabinet concluded with municipalities and provinces at the end of August has been put on hold. The required law on the distribution of asylum seekers among municipalities has encountered objections from the parliamentary party of the VVD, which does not want to force municipalities to arrange reception. This week, further work is being done on a compromise. But because it is all taking too long, Mayor Hubert Bruls is already threatening on behalf of the municipalities that they will no longer provide emergency shelter next spring. Who is, is the big question.