Asylum minister Marjolein Faber has announced plans for a trial to keep sharp supervision of nuisance asylum seekers who have little chance of an asylum permit. In the plans they are initially imposed a reporting obligation. If they do not cooperate, they have to move to a location where they will be placed under stricter supervision.
The PVV minister is today in Nieuw-Weerdinge to talk about the nuisance that the village experiences and she visits the registration center in Ter Apel. Later in the day she meets the mayor, aldermen and councilors of the municipality of Westerwolde and wants to discuss the plans with them. Based on this, she may still be able to make some adjustments to her plan. She then informs the House of Representatives about this in a letter.
It is not clear how Faber’s plan differs exactly from the earlier test with the Procedural Location (PBL) in Ter Apel. With that PBL, Fabers predecessor Eric van der Burg established asylum seekers under stricter supervision, but the location had to close after a court decision that an asylum seeker is limited too much in freedom. The test was paused after the ruling on March 1, 2024 until now.
Fabers Pilot will also take place in the Ter Apel registration center. Nuisance asylum seekers from countries that are known as safe can be obliged to report twice a day. The idea behind this is that they do not cause any inconvenience on and around the registration center and their asylum application can be handled faster because they are available for the paperwork.
If they do not cooperate, they will be placed in a “stimulus environment” where they are under “tightened supervision”. From there they cannot go to the rest of the site, but they can go outside on a deposited part. These asylum seekers also receive the proposal to participate in an intensive program with the aim of changing their behavior. According to a Faber spokesperson, participation is voluntary, but the asylum seekers do get the urgent advice to participate.
Faber is investigating whether it is legally possible to move the asylum seekers to a “freedom -restricting location” if the problems stay on and the asylum seekers cause serious nuisance or are suspected of criminal offenses. It would then be an existing enforcement and supervisory location for nuisance asylum seekers or a prison.